Specialist clinical negligence lawyers at Davies and Partners Solicitors in Birmingham are strongly encouraging Hospital Trusts to take note of the worrying findings of a report carried out by The West Midlands Perinatal Institute (WMPI) into the deaths of babies in Hospitals in region.

The WMPI report indicated there are approximately 70,000 deliveries in the West Midlands each year, which accounts for one tenth of all births in England and Wales. The majority of those births result in a healthy baby.  However, the report noted that there are a number of babies who die due to events surrounding labour and childbirth each year and the West Midlands accounts for one tenth of those. In the majority of these cases the death of the baby could have been avoided.

Davies and Partners has not seen any decrease in the number of such cases in recent years despite the issues involved being known to Hospital Trusts. They want Hospital Trusts in the region to take notice of the WMPI Report findings and ensure that their future policies reflect the recommendations made by the report to ensure these unnecessary deaths are avoided.  

To collate the report the WMPI had gathered together a panel consisting of consultant obstetricians, labour ward midwives, community midwives, neonatologists and neonatal nurses from Hospital Trusts within the region. The panel considered 25 cases in the year between April 2008 and March 2009 involving babies who were stillborn or died within 7 days of their birth and concluded that in 16 of the 25 cases (64%) it was likely that the tragic outcome could have been avoided if different management of labour and childbirth had occurred, and in a further 5 cases different management might have led to a different outcome. In 84% of the cases the outcome for the families involved was potentially avoidable with better management of the mothers’ labour and/or childbirth.

Tracy Edwards, specialist medical negligence lawyer and Partner at Davies and Partners in Birmingham, wants to highlight the link the report made between substandard care and this outcome, which she knows can be devastating for a family.  She said, “The link has been known for several years and it is extremely disappointing that the frequency of these tragic events has not decreased significantly in the last 10 years.  We have handled several cases involving the deaths of babies in recent years and the effects are totally devastating for the families involved.”  

The WMPI panel made a number of specific criticisms of the care involved at all stages of labour and childbirth, as well as in the Trust’s ability to carefully review these cases. In 76% of the cases reviewed the WMPI panel’s significant concerns were not identified by the Trusts themselves. Criticisms of care provision included: lack of a clear management plan; delays in management or care caused by difficulties for junior staff in contacting the Consultant on call or difficulties locating equipment, for example; failure to identify and escalate problems so that senior staff input could be obtained; poor communication between staff and parents. In all cases reviewed the standard of record keeping, for example documentation being confusing and out of sequence, was criticised. The WMPI has made recommendations for the Trusts involved both in terms of improving care for mother and baby during labour and childbirth and in their systems for reviewing outcomes so that these tragic and avoidable deaths can be avoided in the future.

Davies and Partners Clinical Negligence team support the actions of Gisela Stuart, MP for Edgbaston, and the former parliamentary under-secretary of state for health, who has requested a Government debate on maternity services in the wake of these tragic enquiry findings.