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Nick Perry, the Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Hastings & Rye and father-to-be, has been chasing PCT Chief Executive Nick Yeo for answers to issues that concern him regarding the threat to maternity services. With Mr Perry’s kind permission we are reprinting his letters as sent and the replies received.
----- Letter sent 10th October 2007 -----
Further to David’s email, we are obviously disappointed not to have had a reply before now, and your view on the research published by the University of Sheffield on the impact of longer ambulance journeys vis a vis local maternity services.
I also want to draw your attention to an article by Jeremy Laurance in the Independent newspaper, 8 October 2007 [click here to view the article].
As you will see, the article discusses the amounts spent on compensation for medical negligence in obstetrics over the last three years (£665 million) as well as the recent report from the Royal College of Obstetricians.
The RCO report states that ‘too little is being done to reduce the risks of childbirth and make it safer for mothers and babies. It will blame shortages of consultants and midwives, increasing pressure from a rising birth rate, and lack of training.
‘The report, Safer Childbirth: Minimum Standards for the Organisation and Delivery of Care in Labour, will highlight how a tiny error during labour can result in oxygen deprivation and brain damage to the baby, leading to lifelong disability and a compensation payment of millions of pounds.’
I hope that such factors (primarily the importance of investing to save) will be taken into the mix as you come to a decision in the next few weeks about the future delivery of services in our area.
Needless to say, we are of the view that the evidence is stacking up in favour of Option 5.
We hope that this is the option you will choose to pursue.
----- Reply received 19/10/07 -----
May I apologise for the delay in responding to David Hancock’s enquiry about the research published by the University of Sheffield. We have responded to this enquiry, and you should now have received a copy of our response.
You also drew our attention to The Independent’s coverage of the publication of the joint Royal Colleges’ report Safer Childbirth. Please may I reassure you that it is exactly the issues highlighted in this paper that have underpinned our proposals.
The findings of the Confidential Enquiry (that many deaths in labour could be avoided with greater supervision and better clinical management) are central concerns for the PCT Boards in their decision making. Professor Arulkumaran draws attention to the importance placed by the report on the presence of consultants on the labour ward, both to deliver care directly in complex cases and to improve supervision and training for more junior staff.
While the link between reducing risk and litigation costs is not straightforward, our proposals were developed because the important thing is to take action now to create a consultant led obstetric unit with the right staffing levels and facilities to make hospital services safer for mothers and babies, and ensure the provision of the highest quality care.
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