New recommended measures to make childbirth safer
- 18.10.2016
- GillEdwards
- Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion
The government launched their Safer Maternity Care Action Plan on 17th October 2016 with the ambition to halve the rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and perinatal brain injuries by 2030.
Any change which reduces injury and death is to be welcomed as we see the same mistakes happening repeatedly: for example, a failure to respond to a mother’s reports of reduced fetal movement, or failures in the interpretation of monitoring equipment during birth.
The scheme promises £8 million for training. If that promise is fulfilled, this would allow more staff to benefit from the excellent training in maternity care offered by charities such as Baby Lifeline. Staff and patients also stand to benefit from the Maternal and Neonatal Health Quality Improvement Programme which will enable Trusts to exchange ideas and best practice. It may come as a surprise to learn that something like this does not already exist.
However, a more controversial proposal has been introduced with the Action Plan. The government has launched a consultation on a Rapid Resolution and Redress (RRR) scheme under the umbrella of ‘improving safety’, but this is a fallacy.
The clear purpose is to reduce costs arising from compensation and litigation and I am sceptical about the promise of openness under the scheme.
There has been a Duty of Candour imposed on the NHS since 2014 following the Francis Inquiry, but compliance is patchy to say the least. Families want answers; they want to stop the mistakes happening to other people and they want to ensure provision for the future.
The government has quoted an average time frame of 11.5 years to resolve a case. I would be interested to see behind this statistic.
In my experience, this time frame is highly unusual and would be in a case where there has been a long battle over liability and/or it has not been possible to assess the full extent of the child’s disability until they are older.
Is the RRR scheme necessary? Changes in the legal process have been in place since April 2013 which will undoubtedly result a reduction in legal costs. I have grave doubts that rapid resolution is in the claimant’s interests unless the liability and value of the case is clear cut, in which case we are able to settle the case quickly already. As we know from the recent referendum, statistics and financial promises are banded around as truth and should be read with caution.
Having begun my career as a nurse, I now have over 20 years in the legal profession, specialising in the field of claimant clinical negligence with experience in birth injury claims.