Is this the turning point for maternity care?

This year, World Cerebral Palsy Day falls on 6 October with a theme of ‘#Unique and United’. The Kingsley Napley Medical Negligence and Personal Injury team strongly support the vision of this global movement - which is about recognition of the 50 million people who are living with cerebral palsy and striving for a more accessible and inclusive world.

Legal claims for hypoxic brain injuries during birth – caused by a disruption in oxygen supply - remain prevalent. These injuries can have a devastating impact and lead to lifelong conditions including Cerebral Palsy. Indeed, claims relating to brain injuries sustained during birth account for a significant percentage of the total value of clinical negligence damages paid out each year. This is because the average amount of damages for such cases is very high, not infrequently running to tens of millions of pounds, with some impacted children having lifelong needs for care, treatment, equipment and housing. Nonetheless, claims for clinical negligence in this area can be particularly thorny to prove. In this article I consider when the doctrine of ‘material contribution’ – said by the Court of Appeal to have been ‘bedevilled by apparent inconsistency’ – may apply to hypoxic birth injury cases where the window for avoiding injury can be short. Does every minute really count?

The Government has this week confirmed the names of 14 Hospital Trusts that will be part of a rapid national investigation of maternity and newborn baby care across England that was announced by Wes Streeting back in June. (See my colleague Sharon Burkill’s blog on that announcement here). I am carefully watching the developments with regard to this investigation, knowing full well from my clients and their stories how desperately improvements to our maternity services are needed.

We were delighted to take part in a 15km walk on Saturday 6 September for the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity (DVLCC) to raise funds for this excellent cause. 

The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has shared insights into safety concerns raised by women and families and other stakeholders about maternity and neonatal care within NHS England, highlighting once again the need for meaningful change.

Where there has been a concern surrounding medical care at an NHS Hospital, an internal investigation may be carried out and a written report produced to assist with learning from the incident. From a patient perspective, the report can be helpful in understanding more about the event and what, if anything, went wrong.

We are extremely concerned to read reports that treatment guidelines relating to glaucoma allegedly have not been followed at the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in Warwickshire, leading to patients’ sight being harmed. Some patients are said to have suffered permanent visual damage.

Each year NHS Resolution, the body dealing with legal claims against the NHS, produces a report which provides insights into what is happening with clinical negligence claims. This year the picture is very mixed. It shows that claims for clinical negligence are on the rise although more cases are being settled without the need for Court proceedings. Nonetheless, despite Government efforts, high levels of maternity cases and associated costs persist.

In this blog, Richard Lodge talks about providing medical treatment to a non-english speaking patient

According to a recent article in The Guardian NHS England has confirmed that since 2022, equipment failures within the NHS have been responsible for:

• 87 patient deaths
• 68 patients severely harmed who suffered permanent damage or reduced life expectancy
• 522 patients moderately harmed whose independence was subsequently limited for up to 6 months

Kingsley Napley’s head of Medical Negligence and Personal Injury has had an article published in this month’s APIL PI Focus magazine which includes a collection of articles examining the topic of birth injury. James’ piece deals with causation and the doctrine of material contribution in legal claims for hypoxic brain injuries during birth.

Hip replacement surgery is very common, restoring mobility and quality of life to thousands every year in the UK. It is recognised to be the most cost effective for the NHS in returning patients to productive lives. The components wearing surfaces may be metal, ceramic or plastic, and will often last over 20 to 25 years, or even longer for some people. 

Concerns over NHS maternity care are very sadly seldom out of the news. As a lawyer who has specialised in birth injury claims over many years, it has been all too clear to me for a long time, that far too many women and babies, fail to receive anywhere close to adequate maternity care leading in some instances to devastating outcomes.

Fatigue within the NHS presents a significant risk to patient safety, yet in healthcare its consequences remain largely unrecognised despite the increasing demands on NHS workforces.

While we mostly associate dementia with the affect it can have on our memory, it can also affect our ability to think and communicate and our capacity to manage our own affairs.  When undertaking legal proceedings, as solicitors, we have a duty to ensure that our clients have the mental capacity to give proper instructions to bring, or defend, a claim.  Where our client does not have the necessary capacity, a Litigation Friend may be appointed

We are now in Action for Brain Injury week, run annually by the charity Headway to raise awareness and understanding of the different aspects of brain injury. The theme this year is ‘On a good day’ which aims to highlight the fluctuating and unpredictable nature of brain injury and the gap that can arise between someone’s capabilities on a good day versus a bad day. Headway wants people to see both sides of the story. It seeks to change behaviours and opinions towards those who might be having an ‘all-too-common bad day’.

New research suggests that UK cancer cases have risen in women but fallen in men. Women’s cancers include gynaecological cancer (i.e. cervical, ovarian and vaginal cancers) and breast cancer. Here I look at the impacts of delays in diagnosis and treatment failures, provide some guidance on bringing a medical negligence claim and consider why there is hope for the future with new technologies.

A lack of awareness and understanding appears to exist when it comes to women’s reproductive health conditions, and the diagnosis and treatment of hysterectomies is no exception to this.

In this blog we will be discussing where negligence can occur in relation to the treatment of hysterectomies, from initial misdiagnoses to surgical errors.

Endometriosis and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) are two conditions which affect a large number of women every year, and can have devastating effects on fertility and well-being, but frustratingly continue to experience long delays in diagnosis.

As a lawyer specialising in women’s health claims, I am increasingly concerned about the challenges facing those seeking access to care for issues around gynaecology and reproductive health. Problems in this area are rife. They include very long waiting times, delays in diagnosis, a lack of understanding by some medical professionals, instances of discrimination as well as women reporting feelings of being dismissed.