Denial of requested caesarean sections and rigid scanning pathways that are unsuitable for high risk pregnancies? A story that is too familiar. Families are seeking accountability & meaningful change from OUH Trust. You can read my full blog below:

‘[a] lack of compassion and transparency following baby loss and injury can lead to mothers wrongly blaming themselves, compounding trauma’

‘By 2035 EHCPs - legal documents which set out the help children are entitled to - will be reserved for only the most complex cases’ - early thoughts are that this may increase justification for private therapies to bridge the gap in claims for children

This will only accelerate calls to do something about the costs of negligence but the true issue is not the costs bur the harm itself and how we stop it, learn from it and avoid these cases happening at all.

Impact of this on NHS and clinical negligence claims could be significant

Horrific case: ‘extended use of forceps …caused Ada's catastrophic spinal and skull injuries.’ Resulted in the infant’s wholly avoidable death.

My colleague Louise Astill’s piece for Cerebra regarding the effect of therapeutic hypothermia in babies with moderate/severe HIE, we often see neurodevelopmental issues arising later in childhood - cognitive and behavioural - rather than physical/CP https://t.co/7IsyiIUXdH

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: English hospitals that cut registered nurses saw more deaths while those hiring nurses saw more patients survive. Even when hospitals tried to fill gaps with non-nurses, deaths still went up. Major new study exposes dangerous NHS variation: https://t.co/ywzF0DtIyU

‘Let me prepare towards her, and let me call This hour her vigil, and her eve, since this Both the year's, and the day's deep midnight is.’ https://t.co/boaH8qwij6

A case recently settled by my colleague, Punam Sood. Pathological CTG was not recognised, had it been delivery would have been expedited which would have avoided hypoxic ischaemic brain injury and lifelong significant needs.

Temporary temperature normalisation after Calpol or similar is not unusual in very unwell children, and can’t be relied on to rule in or out a diagnosis. Coroner concerningly noted there are ‘currently no national sepsis screening rules for paediatric departments in hospitals’

Sent to me by a client; not the first time I’ve seen the introduction of an electronic patient record causing issues including delays and having a downstream effect on care and treatment. One example was an EPR sending test alerts to the dormant inbox of an outgoing Consultant

‘The emphasis should be, and should always have been, on having a safe birth, regardless of whether that entails a caesarean, an epidural, or not.’

"C-sections are now more common than 'natural' births" I should be on @TimesRadio ~9.40 tomorrow morning to discuss this. https://t.co/IVuousVgXV

Thematic review on obstetric anal sphincter injury claims; cases are typically brought for misdiagnosis and delayed recognition with incorrect grading accounting for 58% of those cases, and forceps deliveries feature prominently. https://t.co/Mlbst7Qsgx

@SophyRidgeSky Absolutely no surprises in todays report. I wish there was ‘new news’ so to speak but there isn’t. All of the @OckReview Immediate & Essential Actions (Shrewsbury) were endorsed by Govt & opposition parties in Mar 2022. Nowhere near enough has been done. Action is needed now!

Essential listening from three very brave women

Despite the initial hopes as to the breadth of this investigation it does appear families affected that need individual investigation of the particular care and treatment they received will have to explore civil claims, if they are not already.

Maternity investigation announced in June 25 with a full report due by Christmas. ‘Reflections’ published today indicate the scale of the issue vastly in excess of what was initially anticipated with interim findings now not expected until Feb 26. https://t.co/CmZoDtLSf7

NI. "Inquest into death of baby girl at 34 weeks in the womb set to go ahead next spring" https://t.co/uOJAuv9jBH

‘Research is sparse because it has been neglected. We do not know the true rate of healing complications after perineal repair.’ - measurable improvement has to start with understanding the scale of the issue through clear data. Given the frequency of tears we should have this.