Tragedy-stricken NHS maternity wards will be unsafely staffed for another five years, officials have admitted today.
Damn investigations into devastating scandals, in which hundreds of mothers and babies were injured, blamed in part on a lack of midwifery staff.
Still, NHS bosses have given hospitals until 2027/28 to ensure they meet staffing requirements.
The target was revealed in a plan today, exactly one year after a shocking report published in the catalog of failures at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust.
Around 201 babies and nine mothers died in the biggest pregnancy scandal ever to hit the NHS.
Rhiannon Davies of Ludlow, Shropshire with her daughter Kate shortly after she was born on 1 March 2009 in Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. Kate died a few hours later
Since then, other tragedies have come to light at East Kent Hospitals Trust and the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, confirming that safety concerns are not isolated in just one area.
NHS bosses recognized the need to ensure safe maternity staff in the current three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services.
“Trusts will meet midwifery staffing tool establishment requirements and achieve fill rates by 2027/28, with new tools to safely guide staff for other professions from 2023/24,” the report reads.
But this suggests that NHS England cannot guarantee that UK maternity wards will be safely staffed for the next four to five years.
Filling percentages indicate whether departments are sufficiently staffed.
The main problem, as the report explains, is that even with millions being spent to boost NHS maternity staff, services are still struggling to attract and retain staff.
“Despite significant investment leading to an increase in the number of midwives, midwives and neonatal nurses, the NHS maternity and neonatal services currently do not have the number of midwives, neonatal nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals they need” , it says.
‘This means that existing staff are often under great pressure to provide the care they want. We have to change that.’
The report does not give a figure for the number of maternity nurses required.
Last year, the Royal College of Midwives warned that NHS services in England were missing around 2,500 midwives.
Despite acknowledging that not all maternity care in England can be safely staffed, the NHS insisted that the majority of women enjoyed a safe delivery in health care.
“Most women have a positive experience of the NHS maternity and neonatal services, and outcomes have improved with more than 900 families welcoming a healthy baby each year compared to 2010,” they said.
However, they also acknowledged that ‘there are times when the care we provide is not as good as we would like it to be’.
In a letter to NHS trusts, directors and senior maternity staff today, NHS England’s chief nursing officer Dame Ruth May, her chief operating officer, David Sloman and national medical director Sir Stephen Powis wrote: ‘Our three-year delivery plan spells out that the NHS will deliver care safer, more personal and more just for all women, babies and families.”
They added: ‘While most women have a positive experience of NHS maternity and neonatal services in England, independent reports show that some families have experienced unacceptable care, trauma and loss, and have challenged us with incredible courage to improve.
‘This plan is aimed more at change than at outlining new policy.’
Among the report’s other recommendations is the creation of a new National Maternity and Neonatal Care Task Force to ensure that digital tools and data are used more effectively to track outcomes for mothers and babies.
Dr. Edile Murdoch, neonatologist consultant and clinical director for maternity care in NHS Lothian, has been appointed chair.
She will be assisted by Dr. Bill Kirkup – who led the review at East Kent Hospital Trust – will act as special adviser.
Rhiannon Davies (left) hugs Kayleigh Griffiths (whose daughter died on 27 April 2016 after midwives failed to recognize a deadly infection) following the publication of the final report in Maternity Services of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
The report found that at least 45 babies died needlessly as a result of “catastrophic” and “deep-seated” care failures.
At an NHS England board meeting this afternoon, Deputy Chairman Sir Andrew Morris told those in attendance: ‘I welcome this report. I think we’ve made really strong progress.’
But, he added: ‘Ultimately, it is the responsibility of our trustboards to enforce this.
‘We ask all boards to pay attention to this and to focus on the must-do, the most important changes.
‘It’s about culture, it’s about personnel, it’s about speaking up.’
Meanwhile, NHS England’s head nurse, Dame Ruth, said: ‘Improving maternity care remains a priority for the whole of the NHS and implementation of the actions is a key focus for all of us.
“Services have asked for this plan and we have listened.”
Senior midwife Donna Ockenden, who led the report to Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust last year, is currently leading an investigation into reports of poor care for mothers and babies at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
At least nine babies and three mothers are believed to have died in the Midlands trust over the past three years.
Among the “immediate and essential” findings of last year’s Ockenden report in Shrewsbury was the need to ensure that maternity care could maintain minimum staffing levels.
Employees surveyed in the survey warned of sub-optimal staffing levels and unsafe hospital-to-staff ratios, claiming they often felt anxious and stressed at work due to poor staffing levels.
The 250-page report also said an obsession with ‘normal births’ contributed to the biggest pregnancy scandal in NHS history.
Ms Ockenden warned that childbirth in England will be unsafe until all recommendations made are fully implemented.
Ms Ockenden is currently leading an inquiry into reports of poor care for mothers and babies at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Commenting on today’s plan, James Titcombe, whose baby died in a scandal-ridden Morecambe Bay NHS Trust maternity ward, said: ‘I am delighted to see today’s 3-year delivery plan, particularly the focus on staffing, retention, cultural change and better use of data.
“However, in the past, progress in pregnancy safety has been hampered by the inability to turn words into real changes on the ground.”
He added: “We cannot afford that to be the case this time – so it is critical that these plans are backed with the funding needed to drive change – and that progress is not taken for granted – rather it needs to be carefully evaluated on a regular basis and, if necessary, revisited if we don’t start to see real changes and better outcomes for women and babies.’