Shropshire baby death parents in plea over midwife units
A couple whose daughter died just hours after being born in a Shropshire maternity unit have criticised a health campaign promoting such facilities.
Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton claimed pushing midwife-led units without highlighting "the real risks that still exist" was dangerous and grossly negligent.
But hospital officials today insisted the units offered "a safe and high quality service" and said the maternity service had received national recognition for offering high standards.
The couple spoke out after Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Hospitals Trust launched "awareness events to highlight benefits of Midwife Led Units".
Midwives from Ludlow's Midwife Led Unit began the drive by being on hand at Tesco in the town to talk to customers about the service they offered and other promotional events are planned for Bridgnorth in May and June.
Mr Stanton and Miss Davies's were left devastated after their baby, Kate, died just hours after being born at the Ludlow unit in 2009. An inquest held in 2012 found their baby might not have died had she not been born in the midwifery-led unit.
Kate was delivered in March 2009 but it became apparent there were problems and she was transferred by air ambulance to Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham, where she died six hours later.
Mr Stanton and Miss Davies said in a joint statement: "When your daughter dies and you learn that her death could have been prevented, was unnecessary and was painful and tragic, all you can hope for is that required lessons will be learned.
"In this case the lessons that needed to be learned have not, and they still pose a risk to mothers-to-be and newborn babies delivering or being delivered at MLUs." The couple cited a string of alleged problems at MLUs, including a lack of communication, on-call midwives being anything up to an hour away and expectant mothers not being told about the length of time it could take them or their baby to get to help if they deliver at an MLU.
The statement said: "Promoting MLUs without highlighting the real risks that still exist is a dangerous and grossly negligent policy on behalf of the clinical commissioning group."
But Cathy Smith, head of midwifery at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: "Shropshire has a maternity service to be proud of and it is one that provides a safe and good quality service for the communities it serves."
She added: "Kate's death in 2009 was a very tragic case and our thoughts continue to go out to the family. The majority of women and their families who use our midwife-led units across the county have a very positive experience.
"It is important that we let people know that this is a safe and high quality service."
She said a recent independent review of the trust's maternity service found the midwife-led units were more comfortable, relaxed and homely places for low-risk deliveries than a large hospital, and crucially for a rural area they are much closer to home.
She added: "The trust's maternity service has also just received national recognition for the high standard of its quality and safety."
