An investigation into maternity services needs to go “much further”, according to a Bradford woman whose daughter was delivered stillborn after failings in her care.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation found a “clear gap” between how staff at Bradford’s maternity services “intend” to care for women and how families actually experience that care.
The review, led by Baroness Amos, found maternity services nationally require “urgent” reform and are no longer fit to give high-quality care.
Mel Pickup, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) chief executive, apologised to the “women whom we have let down” and said she recognised the “lasting trauma and harm” caused.
However, she added that neonatal services at the trust had recently received an Outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission health watchdog, while its maternity services had been rated as Good.
Among 12 NHS trusts visited as part of the investigation, women cared for by BTHFT said they had not been “believed, listened to or taken seriously”.
During her pregnancy, Lauren Caulfield was under the care of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and BTHFT, but her daughter Grace died in the days before her birth in 2022.
She said: “It’s a known fact that women and families are not listened to in maternity services, but I honestly don’t feel women or families have been listened to as part of this report.
“I’ve been involved in it since the beginning, there’s been many families that have put to Baroness Amos and her team what needs to happen in maternity to make it more safe, make it more equitable, and ensure that people don’t harm or experience harm and that’s been completely ignored.”
Caulfield, who is currently a student midwife, said a statutory public inquiry was needed and there was a “systemic problem”.
“Most of the staff I work with have been wanting to do the best they can but they’re working in systems that do not support them – whether that’s not enough staff, excessive work hours or not enough patient care, not enough time to provide the care that people want to,” she said.
