NHS bosses ‘ignored safety concerns of maternity staff'

Major reforms to the way maternity care is provided to women in England are being forced through by NHS bosses, with maternity unit staff put under pressure and safety concerns dismissed, according to the team investigating the largest maternity scandal in NHS history.

- SHAUN LINTERN

In a damning critique of NHS England’s approach to its new “continuity of carer” model, the Shrewsbury and Telford inquiry team said the model had been introduced without enough midwives in place, meaning the safety of women and babies was at risk.

Under continuity of carer (CoC), expectant mothers are provided with a named community midwife throughout their pregnancy and who attends the birth. But critics say the rollout has created a two-tier system, with women in hospital facing long delays because the wards lack enough staff.

In April, a senior doctor at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital was censored after raising the alarm over the changes, which she said were leaving wards dangerously understaffed. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) told The Independent: “There simply aren’t enough midwives for it to be embedded safely.”

The Shrewsbury inquiry team argued a dogma of the CoC model has taken hold within senior levels at NHS England, with bosses reluctant to hear concerns about the problems it is causing on the frontline. In a six-page dossier submitted to MPs on the health committee and seen by The Independent, the team investigating the 1,862 cases of poor maternity care at the Shrewsbury NHS trust said they had received concerns from across the country.