Friday, October 3, 2025
News Health
  • Health News
  • Hair Products
  • Nutrition
    • Weight Loss
  • Sexual Health
  • Skin Care
  • Women’s Health
    • Men’s Health
No Result
View All Result
  • Health News
  • Hair Products
  • Nutrition
    • Weight Loss
  • Sexual Health
  • Skin Care
  • Women’s Health
    • Men’s Health
No Result
View All Result
HealthNews
No Result
View All Result
Home Health News

Safety Watchdog Flags Ongoing Maternity Risks

August 21, 2025
in Health News
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) has released a preliminary report on maternity and neonatal safety in England. The exploratory review, carried out in spring 2025, highlighted concerns across the entire maternity and neonatal care pathway despite years of initiatives aimed at improvement.

The review comes after a series of high-profile scandals, including at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The Shrewsbury inquiry, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, found that approximately 201 babies and nine mothers might have survived if they had received better care. The Nottingham review — also chaired by Ockenden — remains ongoing.

Safety Concerns and Baby Deaths

The HSSIB’s latest report indicates that safety concerns persist. Between October 2023 and June 2025, the board received 35 reports of safety concerns in maternity or neonatal services. These accounted for about 10% of all safety concerns received during that period. 

All cases involved “very serious harm,” including 10 baby deaths. Sixteen incidents occurred during labour, and 12 during the neonatal period. Most reports came from women or family members, although some were submitted by healthcare staff. 

Full Investigation Paused

The board had begun a scoping exercise to assess the need for a full investigation. However, the work was paused in June after the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a national investigation into maternity and neonatal services, due to report in December 2025. 

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that multiple reviews into local trusts had found “similar failings in compassionate care” after maternity service failures “that should never have happened”. He acknowledged “systemic” failings dating back more than 15 years and said families had been “gaslit” in their search for answers about their babies’ deaths. 

Although pausing its work, the HSSIB published its exploratory findings to support the national investigation. These were based on the 35 recent safety reports, meetings with 17 stakeholders, and a 2021 report by its precursor organisation, the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch.

‘Compounded Harms’ to Families

The report identified 11 key themes. Progress had been made in maternity and neonatal outcomes, staffing levels, and governance, but disparities in care and outcomes persisted, partly due to health inequalities. 

The HSSIB found that maternity and neonatal systems were overly complex, with inconsistent collaboration and poor information sharing. Local governance often operated in isolation, and services struggled to identify and respond to clinical risks or to learn from the harms that happened to women and babies during pregnancy, labour, and birth.

“Patients experience compounded harm due to issues within the wider healthcare system,” the report concluded. It highlighted that local investigations, complaints processes, and legal proceedings such as inquests often caused additional harm. “Staff and trusts can lose sight of compassion during this process,” it said.

Four Areas for Further Review

The HSSIB recommended four areas for potential further investigation:

  • National structures responsible for providing direction and oversight for maternity services.
  • Local governance and its relationship to national bodies.
  • Standards and approaches of local investigations when things go wrong.
  • Education, training, and professional standards for clinicians.

Staff Experience Cumulative Stress

The report said that maternity and neonatal staff also experienced cumulative stress and harm. It raised concerns about the standards set in undergraduate and postgraduate education, and whether these could be met in practice, noting that too many recommendations were being made, with limited implementation. 

The HSSIB warned that multiple, high-profile maternity investigations and inquiries had eroded public confidence in maternity services. Some women were avoiding hospitals that had been the focus of national investigations, undermining recruitment and damaging staff morale. 

The report cited instances of midwives receiving death threats or being berated for working in “failing” services. 

Stakeholders had told the HSSIB that clinicians had also become more risk-averse for fear of blame, a defensive approach that “drives the behaviour that compounds the harm women and families experience.”

Dr Sheena Meredith is an established medical writer, editor, and consultant in healthcare communications, with extensive experience writing for medical professionals and the general public. She is qualified in medicine and in law and medical ethics.



Source link : https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/safety-watchdog-flags-ongoing-maternity-risks-2025a1000m58?src=rss

Author :

Publish date : 2025-08-21 13:24:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.

Previous Post

Which Antiplatelet Works Better in Impaired Renal Function?

Next Post

FDA Rejects Tx for Trump’s Condition; Jury Awards Nurse $20M; FDA’s Oyster Warning

Related Posts

Health News

Food Insecurity: A New Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline?

October 3, 2025
Health News

Lower Mortality May Offset Hyperkalemia Risk of HF Therapies

October 3, 2025
Health News

Head-to-Head Trial Supports New Treatment for Kids With MS

October 3, 2025
Health News

NHS boss Sir Jim Mackey backed heart surgeon whose failures contributed to deaths

October 3, 2025
Health News

Expert advice and how to avoid the worst

October 3, 2025
Health News

Early At-Home Abortion: As Safe As in the Hospital?

October 2, 2025
Load More

Food Insecurity: A New Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline?

October 3, 2025

Lower Mortality May Offset Hyperkalemia Risk of HF Therapies

October 3, 2025

Head-to-Head Trial Supports New Treatment for Kids With MS

October 3, 2025

NHS boss Sir Jim Mackey backed heart surgeon whose failures contributed to deaths

October 3, 2025

Expert advice and how to avoid the worst

October 3, 2025

Early At-Home Abortion: As Safe As in the Hospital?

October 2, 2025

UV Air Purification May Aid Endoscopy Room Decontamination

October 2, 2025

Parkinson’s Risk Rises With Outdoor Air Chemical Exposure

October 2, 2025
Load More

Categories

Archives

October 2025
MTWTFSS
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031 
« Sep    

© 2022 NewsHealth.

No Result
View All Result
  • Health News
  • Hair Products
  • Nutrition
    • Weight Loss
  • Sexual Health
  • Skin Care
  • Women’s Health
    • Men’s Health

© 2022 NewsHealth.

Go to mobile version