Mothers at risk as maternity ward blunders double in two years

Posted 07/10/2008

It is claimed that mothers and babies are increasingly at risk as a result of soaring numbers of life-threatening mistakes on NHS maternity wards.

The claim comes from the Liberal Democrats, who point out that the number of incidents reported to the patient safety watchdog has doubled in just two years.

Last year, 70,108 cases on neo-natal units were passed to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) compared with just 35,428 in 2005. Doctors and nurses are expected to report any potentially serious incident in an NHS hospital to the agency.

In total, last year more than 10 per cent of women were victims of a ‘notifiable incident’ in the run-up to birth or soon afterwards.

A spokesman for the NPSA said: ‘As we are working to promote a more open culture in healthcare services, there has been an increase in the total number of reports submitted.

‘This should not be taken as an indication of a worsening of patient safety but rather an indication of increasing levels of awareness of safety issues amongst healthcare professionals.’

There is disagreement on this point, however. There is an estimated shortage of 5,000 midwives and, in some hospitals, one midwife has to look after three mothers simultaneously.

The latest NPSA figures showed that 295 women died of complications relating to childbirth between 2003 and 2005