Pressure on maternity units could increase clinical negligence and birth injuries
- Oct 14, 2015
- EmmaArnold
The shortage of midwives in the NHS means mistakes will 'almost certainly be made', according to the Royal College of Midwives (RCM).
With the NHS under increasing pressure, the RCM has warned more maternity units are closing the door to patients.
According to their survey, 42% of units were shut down temporarily in the past year.
The RCM also said how budget cuts were affecting services with midwives struggling to cope with the rising birth rate.
Midwives have also found an increase in complex pregnancies due to rising levels of obesity and older first-time mothers.
This pressure, they say, will result in mistakes being made and an increase in clinical negligence and birth injuries in maternity units.
RCM's chief executive said how patient safety is compromised when services are operating beyond their capacity.
Hannah Bottomley, Solicitor in the clinical negligence department at PotterReesDolan, said:
It is very worrying to read that midwives and their representative body are so concerned about the lack of new midwives and staff shortages that they consider mistakes may be made. Any mistake relating to healthcare can have horrific consequences, but mistakes made during delivery and birth can have very significant consequences for a whole family.
We unfortunately see first-hand how devastating a mistake can be when it comes to midwifery care and hope that now there has been some recognition of the problem steps can be put in place to rectify the shortages so mothers and babies are not subjected to injuries made by mistakes which could otherwise have been avoided.
Read what Lesley Herbertson, Senior Solicitor in the clinical negligence department had to say here in our blogs section.