Mothers at risk: NHS condemns poor maternity care
source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/10/health.nhs
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The NHS has no excuse for poor maternity care and the deaths of women giving birth, the head of the government's health watchdog will say today as he publishes a major review identifying a disturbing pattern of problems and inadequacies across the sector.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, said: "There are no excuses. I don't want to be at the wrong end of another investigation report describing the deaths of babies or mothers. I have been there too many times. There's no reason we should see that any longer."
Many of the problems of poorly performing trusts concerned the staff shortages and problems with team-working.
Kennedy ordered the commission's review, which has taken two years and encompasses all 150 trusts offering maternity services, after three separate investigations into women's deaths - at Ashford and St Peter's in Middlesex and Surrey, at New Cross in Wolverhampton, and at Northwick Park in north London, where 10 women died.
Disturbingly, he said, the faults found in the three trusts where women died run through the entire maternity service.
"Resources can't alone be blamed," he said. "There are reasons that can be tackled. They have to do with working as a team, they have to do with proper leadership, they have to do with the priority that maternity services are actually given. "One of the most flabbergasting pieces of evidence was when we asked doctors, as against midwives, whether they thought they were working to shared goals - 28% of doctors said no and 58% of midwives said no.
"This isn't where it should be. This doesn't do women any favours at all if we have these tribal allegiances still affecting the way services are provided."
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, said: "There are no excuses. I don't want to be at the wrong end of another investigation report describing the deaths of babies or mothers. I have been there too many times. There's no reason we should see that any longer."
Many of the problems of poorly performing trusts concerned the staff shortages and problems with team-working.
Kennedy ordered the commission's review, which has taken two years and encompasses all 150 trusts offering maternity services, after three separate investigations into women's deaths - at Ashford and St Peter's in Middlesex and Surrey, at New Cross in Wolverhampton, and at Northwick Park in north London, where 10 women died.
Disturbingly, he said, the faults found in the three trusts where women died run through the entire maternity service.
"Resources can't alone be blamed," he said. "There are reasons that can be tackled. They have to do with working as a team, they have to do with proper leadership, they have to do with the priority that maternity services are actually given. "One of the most flabbergasting pieces of evidence was when we asked doctors, as against midwives, whether they thought they were working to shared goals - 28% of doctors said no and 58% of midwives said no.
"This isn't where it should be. This doesn't do women any favours at all if we have these tribal allegiances still affecting the way services are provided."
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