Interim Report NHS Fails Women And Babies Published

Racism and 'problematic staff relationships factors in maternity care failings

 

A shockig and horifying oicture of maternity services in England is the central findings of an interim report published today by Baroness Amos in a second part of her inquiry into NHS maternity services.

This comes as the Liverpool Women's Hospital services are about to be decanted into the Royal Hospital in Liverpool and the threat of closure of all women's health services at this specialist stand=alone women's hopstal remains the ultimate aim in the opinion of thise attending sucdessive IOCB meetings and readers of the board reports and papers.

Baroness Amos report centres on six key areas. Issues found included:

• Services depleted or stopped because of capacity pressures, with stretched antenatal wards and delivery units resulting in delays to admissions and the use of community midwives in delivery units impacting safety
  
  
• "Poor relationships" between team members, including obstetricians and midwives. Racist and bullying behaviour of senior clinicians was not always dealt with by management
  
  
• Structural racism and persistent inequalities leading to "notably higher risk of adverse outcomes" for women from black and Asian backgrounds and women from more deprived areas. Discrimination against disabled women, Muslim families, refugee and asylum women and LGBT families was also reported
  
  
• A lack of compassion and transparency when baby loss and harm occurs, which can lead to mothers wrongly blaming themselves, compound trauma and impede opportunities to learn from mistakes
  
  
• Care being delivered in outdated and dilapidated buildings, in some cases compromising clinical care. Bereavement spaces were insufficient or non-existent in some trusts
  
  
• Staff reporting maternity units did not have enough personnel to provide safe care

Baroness Amos also said in a statement that it was "clear from the meetings and conversations I have had with hundreds of women, families and staff members across the country, that maternity and neonatal services in England are failing too many women, babies, families and staff".

 

You can dwnlad the full report in pdf format from the unionsafety E-Library or by clicking on the image above right.