Baby deaths caused in part by bad maternity care

Incidents of newborn death and brain damage have been caused in part by failure to follow guidelines and best practice in hospitals, a new report claims.

A study by Each Baby Counts found nearly three quarters of affected babies might have had a different outcome if they had received the right maternity unit care.

For the study, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) examined 1,123 term births in 2016 that ended in stillbirth (124), neonatal death (145) or severe brain injury (854).

The research found that in almost half (45%) of reviewed cases, guidelines and best practice were not followed.

There were seven critical contributory factors per incident on average which led to a poor outcome.

Reasons for failures include gaps in training, lack of recognition of problems, communication issues, heavy workload, staffing levels and local guidelines not being based on best available evidence.

The report recommends addressing hospital workload issues, creating individualised pregnancy management plans for women and ensuring local guidelines kept in line with national guidance.

It concluded 71% of 955 births in 2016 where sufficient information was available might have had a different outcome if different care had been provided.

Areas requiring improvements include identifying and acting on risk factors, issues relating to monitoring of fetal wellbeing with cardiotocography (CTG) and blood sampling, and education or training.

One charity called the findings “difficult reading” and criticised the lack of progress in avoiding “devastating” outcomes.

The RCOG is now calling for a UK national centre of excellence for maternity care, to help make it “the safest place in the world to have a baby”.

Professor Lesley Regan, president of RCOG, said: “The stillbirth, death of a newborn baby or the birth of a baby with brain injuries are life-changing events that profoundly affect women and their families.

“It is absolutely vital that we sustain the momentum and progress to date to ensure we really make a difference to maternity care in the UK.”

Every year more than 1,000 babies die or are left with a brain injury in the UK during term labour.

These incidents are investigated locally by a hospital or maternity unit, with the results compiled at a national level by the RCOG to help improve future care.

The aim of its Each Baby Counts initiative is to halve the number of babies who die or are left severely disabled by 2020.

(c) Sky News 2018: Baby deaths caused in part by bad maternity care