I know everyone loves to bang on about the budget cuts, but it seems like there’s a general lack of competence or giving a fuck at some NHS trusts. And because they close ranks it’s hard to tell from the outside which ones are abysmally run.
A rather painful morning on radio 4 for this. The chair that did a previous report on baby deaths has ended up doing this one, and whilst he couldn’t break the embargo there was some distress that the NHS won’t learn and goes into denial mode etc.
I gave birth 6 months ago, and despite being a healthy 25 year-old with no previous medical history, I nearly died due to incompetence, and I am now being stonewalled by the Trust despite being promised a review into my case, that is already 6 months too late.
For 9 months I complained about not feeling well, and I knew there was something wrong with my heart, only to be dismissed by midwives and told to “practice more mindfulness”.
Once in hospital, in early labour, I was told in an incredibly casual way that due to my heart issues, I might not surive labour, either naturally or via C-section. When I asked what their plan was to make sure I didn’t die, and reminded them I was already in early labour, and this baby was coming out one way or another, they basically shrugged their shoulders. There was no plan to deal with my labour, because it was a Sunday. They had no cardiologist in, and I was going to have to wait until Monday. At this point, I had already been in early labour for 3 days. I asked what would happen if my labour progressed before the tests could be run on Monday. They had no answer.
The tests involved a scan which is unsafe to take during pregnancy. It was the only way to figure out what was wrong and increase my chances of both me and my baby making it out alive. I had to sign a form basically stating I am aware of the risks and will not sue the NHS if my baby develops leukemia, which she is now at an increased risk to do. All because none of the 6 different midwives I saw recognised I had all the symptoms of a pulmonary embolism, which could have killed me at any time.
I begged to see a doctor to discuss my options throughout. I was told someone would come to see me, and they never did. I was steamrolled into a natural birth that wasn’t progressing, despite being in labour for 4+ days, which goes against the NHS’s own guidelines about not allowing women to labour for more than 48 hours due to increased risk of stillbirths, despite the fact that my baby was also getting distressed and I was begging them for a C-section as I had been in labour for over 4 days.
They told me I was likely to die, and did not even send in a doctor to speak to me, besides that initial visit where they told me there was a chance I was not going to make it.
I ended up having to undergo a risky forceps delivery, while I nearly went into a heart attack. Even then, they had to send for a consultant to deem to come save my baby.
It is a miracle we are both alive and otherwise non-injured long-term. I can’t imagine the pain of these people.
After the birth, one of the nurses laughed when I complained about severe pelvic pain and asked for pain medication.
I was told I had a meeting booked in to discuss these failings. I have been chasing this for 6 months, before getting a date pencilled in last week. I have since moved away from where I gave birth and drove 3 hours to attend my appointment that was 6 months late, only to arrive at the hospital and be told that the doctor who was meant to lead my review had mysteriously fallen ill and was not in that day. They would have to rebook it. No notice. No emails, or calls. Just cancelled on the day.
When I emailed her PA to rebook this, I got an automated email saying she is on leave. With no return date set.
And so the stonewalling continues. They have closed ranks, and are trying to make me go away. I can’t imagine losing a baby and then having to go through this mess: denial, gaslighting, being victimised by the healthcare system meant to protect you.
My heart breaks for these families. I am one of the lucky ones, and my luck was both of us being alive, with no permanent injury for my baby and “only” mild complications for me, plus a healthy dose of post-partum anxiety and PTSD. The bar is so low.
What scares me is they will say lessons will be learned, and nothing will change.
It makes you wonder what NHSE/CCGs we’re doing with the data.
They are supposed to have oversight of what is going on at trusts. Either they missed/ignored/were lied to regarding excess baby deaths.
The government is going to have to do an urgent review of every maternity unit to give assurance to the general public. How they’ll find the money/staff for these reviews is another question.
Not wanting to dox myself but we had a baby in an EKHUFT hospital a few years ago and ended up with them making mistakes which could have caused brain damage to our baby and likely meant longer in ICU than they otherwise would have (if at all).
Luckily, our little one has met their developmental milestones and their brain MRIs have come back clear so it looks like they got away with it.
We put in an official complaint and had a written apology from the trust for the mistakes made and where they have made changes to procedures to prevent the same mistakes occurring in future.
I have a baby due in January, this shit terrifies me.
Good for him, too many people fall for the pushed narrative that the NHS isn’t capable of doing bad and all the problems are money, which is clearly nonsense.
Babies are often seen as expendable? Replaceable? “You can always have another, no big deal” I’m not sure what the wording should be.
I do know that when my son was stillborn in 2010, over something that was potentially avoidable, the general opinion of the doctors we saw was “Never mind, we’ll keep a closer eye on you/baby next time and it’ll be different”
It had taken 13 years of trying to get pregnant in the first place and there never was a next time.
8 comments
I know everyone loves to bang on about the budget cuts, but it seems like there’s a general lack of competence or giving a fuck at some NHS trusts. And because they close ranks it’s hard to tell from the outside which ones are abysmally run.
A rather painful morning on radio 4 for this. The chair that did a previous report on baby deaths has ended up doing this one, and whilst he couldn’t break the embargo there was some distress that the NHS won’t learn and goes into denial mode etc.
I gave birth 6 months ago, and despite being a healthy 25 year-old with no previous medical history, I nearly died due to incompetence, and I am now being stonewalled by the Trust despite being promised a review into my case, that is already 6 months too late.
For 9 months I complained about not feeling well, and I knew there was something wrong with my heart, only to be dismissed by midwives and told to “practice more mindfulness”.
Once in hospital, in early labour, I was told in an incredibly casual way that due to my heart issues, I might not surive labour, either naturally or via C-section. When I asked what their plan was to make sure I didn’t die, and reminded them I was already in early labour, and this baby was coming out one way or another, they basically shrugged their shoulders. There was no plan to deal with my labour, because it was a Sunday. They had no cardiologist in, and I was going to have to wait until Monday. At this point, I had already been in early labour for 3 days. I asked what would happen if my labour progressed before the tests could be run on Monday. They had no answer.
The tests involved a scan which is unsafe to take during pregnancy. It was the only way to figure out what was wrong and increase my chances of both me and my baby making it out alive. I had to sign a form basically stating I am aware of the risks and will not sue the NHS if my baby develops leukemia, which she is now at an increased risk to do. All because none of the 6 different midwives I saw recognised I had all the symptoms of a pulmonary embolism, which could have killed me at any time.
I begged to see a doctor to discuss my options throughout. I was told someone would come to see me, and they never did. I was steamrolled into a natural birth that wasn’t progressing, despite being in labour for 4+ days, which goes against the NHS’s own guidelines about not allowing women to labour for more than 48 hours due to increased risk of stillbirths, despite the fact that my baby was also getting distressed and I was begging them for a C-section as I had been in labour for over 4 days.
They told me I was likely to die, and did not even send in a doctor to speak to me, besides that initial visit where they told me there was a chance I was not going to make it.
I ended up having to undergo a risky forceps delivery, while I nearly went into a heart attack. Even then, they had to send for a consultant to deem to come save my baby.
It is a miracle we are both alive and otherwise non-injured long-term. I can’t imagine the pain of these people.
After the birth, one of the nurses laughed when I complained about severe pelvic pain and asked for pain medication.
I was told I had a meeting booked in to discuss these failings. I have been chasing this for 6 months, before getting a date pencilled in last week. I have since moved away from where I gave birth and drove 3 hours to attend my appointment that was 6 months late, only to arrive at the hospital and be told that the doctor who was meant to lead my review had mysteriously fallen ill and was not in that day. They would have to rebook it. No notice. No emails, or calls. Just cancelled on the day.
When I emailed her PA to rebook this, I got an automated email saying she is on leave. With no return date set.
And so the stonewalling continues. They have closed ranks, and are trying to make me go away. I can’t imagine losing a baby and then having to go through this mess: denial, gaslighting, being victimised by the healthcare system meant to protect you.
My heart breaks for these families. I am one of the lucky ones, and my luck was both of us being alive, with no permanent injury for my baby and “only” mild complications for me, plus a healthy dose of post-partum anxiety and PTSD. The bar is so low.
What scares me is they will say lessons will be learned, and nothing will change.
It makes you wonder what NHSE/CCGs we’re doing with the data.
They are supposed to have oversight of what is going on at trusts. Either they missed/ignored/were lied to regarding excess baby deaths.
The government is going to have to do an urgent review of every maternity unit to give assurance to the general public. How they’ll find the money/staff for these reviews is another question.
Not wanting to dox myself but we had a baby in an EKHUFT hospital a few years ago and ended up with them making mistakes which could have caused brain damage to our baby and likely meant longer in ICU than they otherwise would have (if at all).
Luckily, our little one has met their developmental milestones and their brain MRIs have come back clear so it looks like they got away with it.
We put in an official complaint and had a written apology from the trust for the mistakes made and where they have made changes to procedures to prevent the same mistakes occurring in future.
I have a baby due in January, this shit terrifies me.
Good for him, too many people fall for the pushed narrative that the NHS isn’t capable of doing bad and all the problems are money, which is clearly nonsense.
Babies are often seen as expendable? Replaceable? “You can always have another, no big deal” I’m not sure what the wording should be.
I do know that when my son was stillborn in 2010, over something that was potentially avoidable, the general opinion of the doctors we saw was “Never mind, we’ll keep a closer eye on you/baby next time and it’ll be different”
It had taken 13 years of trying to get pregnant in the first place and there never was a next time.