Bristol maternity care review after birth injury incidents

Urgent action is needed to improve maternity care at Weston General Hospital following a spate of incidents. In a report to the Weston Area Health Trust (WAHT) board, four recent incidents of concern have been outlined where action needs to be taken, including one which resulted in a stillbirth.

New rules on how long an unborn baby's heartbeat should be monitored before birth are being drawn up in response to the death of a baby during a quick birth.

The report also stressed the urgency for all midwives at the hospital's Unit to attend neonatal life support training and says a new policy needs to be written to ensure that the placenta travels with the baby if being transferred to another hospital.

Another incident concerned the failure to detect a case of spina bifida during a routine ultrasound scan in the mother's 20th week of pregnancy.

Babies born with the condition have an incomplete spinal cord which may lead to mobility difficulties and, if severe, paralysis below the affected part of the spine.

Normally, mothers whose unborn baby is found to have the condition at 20 weeks are offered the option of having an abortion.

But in the case at Weston General the condition was not picked up until 34 weeks, 10 weeks after the legal abortion limit.

WAHT said in the report that an action plan was now in place.

The report also highlighted a missed case of placenta praevia, a condition which can cause severe bleeding and prevent a normal birth if the placenta blocks the opening from the womb.

The trust said a meeting had been held to discuss various aspects of the mother's examination, which may have contributed to the mistake.

Another incident related to a patient who suffered a severe allergic or anaphylactic reaction, where the resuscitation trolley within the department was not adequate. A more suitable trolley was ordered immediately and is now in use.

WAHT Medical Director said: "We cannot comment on individual patients. It is not therefore appropriate to make a comment."

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