We can help you claim
compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
Call: 0800 10 757 95
Safety on the labour ward is a must to prevent birth injuries in the UK and in 2007 the Healthcare Commission (HCC) undertook a major review of maternity services to establish where the safety risks to mothers and their babies existed on maternity and labour wards throughout the country.
Reported upon in July 2008, the HCC review included 148 trusts providing obstetric maternity services and four which provided midwife-led units only.
Staffing concerns which may lead to birth injuries
The review found that understaffing was an issue for many trusts, with a great degree in variation of labour and maternity ward staffing levels across the respondent trusts.
Insufficient presence of obstetric consultants on the wards resulted in a recommendation that consultant presence on the labour ward should be set at 40 hours per week for a unit handling up to 5,000 births a year, and 60 hours for wards where over 5,000 births take place per year.
The report suggested that increased consultant presence would improve safety, care and reduce birth interventions.
Also highlighted in the HCC's findings was a need for improvement in the inter-professional working relationships between midwives and obstetricians. A number of healthcare staff suggested that the two sets of professionals did not always share the same goals, were not always clear about their role in the trust, or felt valued as part of a multidisciplinary team.
Better levels of communication between maternity staff were found to be needed, particularly at shift handover time when the potential for missed information which could lead to birth injuries was greater.
The research found that attendance of staff training courses for maternity staff varied greatly. Some trusts reported high extremely high attendance, whilst others admitted that attendance was poor. The difference in attendance by doctors and midwives was negligable.
Claiming for birth injuries with YouClaim
Insufficient staffing levels or standards of training can, unfortunately, lead to difficult births and birth injuries. If you feel any aspect of your labour and delivery was mishandled or mismanaged and this led to you or your baby suffering a birth injury, then you may be able to make a claim for 100% compensation with the medical negligence solicitors at YouClaim.
Whilst the complex nature of birth injury claims mean that some charges may be necessary to mount the medical negligence case, we always endeavour to keep them to a minimum and to discuss them with you so that you may make a reasoned and informed choice regarding whether or not it is in your best interests to proceed with the claim.
We also realise that the very nature of birth injuries makes such cases extremely sensitive and we aim always to treat you with the utmost care and professionalism at all times. All medical negligence solicitors on our panel are accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for your peace of mind.
If you wish to talk to one of friendly yet knowledgeable legal advisors about your or your baby's birth injuries and the possibility of making a compensation claim, please call our free helpline today on 0800 10 757 95. Alternatively, you can contact us online via echat or by filling in a claim form so that we may call you back at a time to suit you.
