This rather alarming news story came to my attention today.
http://www.nottinghamwired.co.uk/news.php/124340-Kings-Mill-hospital-ignored-toilet-birth-mothers-calls
A couple in Nottinghamshire have reported that their daughter was born unattended in a hospital bathroom in November and that staff ignored when they pulled the emergency cord for urgent assistance. Apparently the midwives assumed the labouring woman wanted a cup of tea.
Let's skip right over the part where the midwives are implying that a labouring woman should be ignored when in need of refreshments, and move right on the the extremely distressing part of this story: that an emergency call from a woman undergoing induction was ignored.
Any call for immediate assistance for a woman in labour should be responded to, by somebody, anybody. Regardless of how frequently women in that birthing suite pull the wrong cord or hit the wrong button when all they need is a drink. The staff cannot assume that it is a benign matter, not for any labouring woman. But induction is risky. It is a risky procedure whenever and wherever it is done, in some cases the risks are lower than the risks of staying pregnant, but there are still risks. Ignoring an emergency call for a woman undergoing induction is, quite simply, negligence.
This isn't the first time I have encountered women who say that they were ignored during induction, that their requests for pain relief were ignored or that they were told they weren't yet in labour without even being examined. I even heard of one woman once who hadn't even been moved from the ward to a birthing suite and delivered on the ward floor on her own in front of half a dozen other women. Disgraceful.
This recent case is a little scant on details. We know that the midwives assumed that the labouring woman only wanted a cup of tea, so deemed it unnecessary to attend to that need. I might have a little more sympathy for the midwives if it transpired that they were very short staffed and no one could be spared for non-urgent care (forgetting again that it is clearly wrong to just assume that the emergency cord has been pulled for non-urgent reasons). But only a little sympathy can be garnered from such an excuse. If the ward was so short staffed, why induce? Why willingly fill up the ward when there aren't enough midwives? When birth can be scheduled (Ha!), why do so in full knowledge that there are not enough midwives available to attend to every woman both in spontaneous labour and booked for induction?
Perhaps this woman's induction really couldn't wait a day or two. Perhaps she had a true emergency reason for needing to get the baby earth-side. And here we are back at the point that she was ignored in an emergency situation.
There is no winning scenario for the staff on duty at this hospital that day. Either there was someone available to answer the emergency call but it went ignored anyway, or the ward was too busy and so the inductions should have been postponed where possible, or finally, the induction was for genuine medical reasons and therefore the woman was in need of close attention.
The couple have received the standard NHS response to complaints: "We are sorry you feel this way." It isn't a true apology. They are not taking responsibility for their mistake. They are not genuinely sorry for the deep trauma they have caused. They are not attempting to put anything right or change their services for the benefit of those who come after this couple.
It's not good enough. It's never good enough.
Part of the reluctance to take responsibility is fear of litigation, the same fear that causes hospitals to line up increasing numbers of women for unnecessary inductions. As nonsensical as that sounds, it's true. Hospital administrators want to try and control birth, because if they control things and things go wrong they can claim that they did everything possible to prevent it. In doing this they don't stop to ask if they cause more harm than good.
Birth cannot be controlled or scheduled. Sometimes things go wrong, yes, but in a culture of true woman-centred care, where the woman knows and trusts her midwife and where medical intervention is reserved for hose who truly need it ,I somehow think that the growing litigation culture wouldn't be a significant factor because even on the rare occasions that the outcome is negative, the people involved will know and trust their care providers. I'm sure that the reason people lash out and try to sue the NHS now is because they are upset with the level of care shown, they want someone to take responsibility and apologise properly. I know that's true of me and many of the women I have met who have grievances against hospitals for their maternity care. A genuine apology would settle many a dispute before it even reaches the point of hiring lawyers.
A lesson many hospitals would do well to learn.
http://www.nottinghamwired.co.uk/news.php/124340-Kings-Mill-hospital-ignored-toilet-birth-mothers-calls
A couple in Nottinghamshire have reported that their daughter was born unattended in a hospital bathroom in November and that staff ignored when they pulled the emergency cord for urgent assistance. Apparently the midwives assumed the labouring woman wanted a cup of tea.
Let's skip right over the part where the midwives are implying that a labouring woman should be ignored when in need of refreshments, and move right on the the extremely distressing part of this story: that an emergency call from a woman undergoing induction was ignored.
Any call for immediate assistance for a woman in labour should be responded to, by somebody, anybody. Regardless of how frequently women in that birthing suite pull the wrong cord or hit the wrong button when all they need is a drink. The staff cannot assume that it is a benign matter, not for any labouring woman. But induction is risky. It is a risky procedure whenever and wherever it is done, in some cases the risks are lower than the risks of staying pregnant, but there are still risks. Ignoring an emergency call for a woman undergoing induction is, quite simply, negligence.
This isn't the first time I have encountered women who say that they were ignored during induction, that their requests for pain relief were ignored or that they were told they weren't yet in labour without even being examined. I even heard of one woman once who hadn't even been moved from the ward to a birthing suite and delivered on the ward floor on her own in front of half a dozen other women. Disgraceful.
This recent case is a little scant on details. We know that the midwives assumed that the labouring woman only wanted a cup of tea, so deemed it unnecessary to attend to that need. I might have a little more sympathy for the midwives if it transpired that they were very short staffed and no one could be spared for non-urgent care (forgetting again that it is clearly wrong to just assume that the emergency cord has been pulled for non-urgent reasons). But only a little sympathy can be garnered from such an excuse. If the ward was so short staffed, why induce? Why willingly fill up the ward when there aren't enough midwives? When birth can be scheduled (Ha!), why do so in full knowledge that there are not enough midwives available to attend to every woman both in spontaneous labour and booked for induction?
Perhaps this woman's induction really couldn't wait a day or two. Perhaps she had a true emergency reason for needing to get the baby earth-side. And here we are back at the point that she was ignored in an emergency situation.
There is no winning scenario for the staff on duty at this hospital that day. Either there was someone available to answer the emergency call but it went ignored anyway, or the ward was too busy and so the inductions should have been postponed where possible, or finally, the induction was for genuine medical reasons and therefore the woman was in need of close attention.
The couple have received the standard NHS response to complaints: "We are sorry you feel this way." It isn't a true apology. They are not taking responsibility for their mistake. They are not genuinely sorry for the deep trauma they have caused. They are not attempting to put anything right or change their services for the benefit of those who come after this couple.
It's not good enough. It's never good enough.
Part of the reluctance to take responsibility is fear of litigation, the same fear that causes hospitals to line up increasing numbers of women for unnecessary inductions. As nonsensical as that sounds, it's true. Hospital administrators want to try and control birth, because if they control things and things go wrong they can claim that they did everything possible to prevent it. In doing this they don't stop to ask if they cause more harm than good.
Birth cannot be controlled or scheduled. Sometimes things go wrong, yes, but in a culture of true woman-centred care, where the woman knows and trusts her midwife and where medical intervention is reserved for hose who truly need it ,I somehow think that the growing litigation culture wouldn't be a significant factor because even on the rare occasions that the outcome is negative, the people involved will know and trust their care providers. I'm sure that the reason people lash out and try to sue the NHS now is because they are upset with the level of care shown, they want someone to take responsibility and apologise properly. I know that's true of me and many of the women I have met who have grievances against hospitals for their maternity care. A genuine apology would settle many a dispute before it even reaches the point of hiring lawyers.
A lesson many hospitals would do well to learn.
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