Maternity report is a line in the sand — action must follow

There have been too many tragic stories of families left bereaved because of failings in NHS maternity care.

The individual stories are always harrowing and always include somewhere the plea that “this never happens to anyone else.”

I’ve had that said so many times – and yet the errors and more importantly the disgraceful handling of the incident by NHS trusts is stuck seemingly on an endless cycle.

Now a new landmark report by the House of Commons Health Select Committee could be the start of breaking that cycle.

The MPs have gone straight to the root of the issues – a lack of staff and poor culture. And they’ve not only spelt out the problems but given the government a specific, tangible action it can take.

The committee wants an immediate injection of between £200 to £350 million.

It is a direct challenge to the new health secretary Sajid Javid with a very specific price tag.

It is highly likely that even if ministers gave the cash to the NHS tomorrow it would have difficulty spending it. There just aren’t the midwives to recruit. But money will grease the wheels and the staff will come in time. Between now and then there are maternity units crying out for new equipment, better systems and enhanced training. The money would not be wasted.

There is a lot else in the Committee’s report from ending the culture of normal births, improved training and better investigations. The families who have fought for these changes over the years deserve to be heard.

James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died as a result of errors at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust in 2008, told me it was now crucial scandal trusts stop being viewed as ‘one offs’ and action taken to address the systemic problems.

He said: “Today’s report goes to the heart of what these issues are; safe staffing levels, changes to the legal system which currently exacerbates trauma for families and inhibits learning, ring fenced funding to support multi-professional training, improvements to enable the more rapid sharing of learning from investigations and work to finally eradicate the harmful influence that ‘normal birth’ ideology has had on maternity safety, are exactly the right steps.

“This report could be a pivotal moment for maternity safety, but only if it’s recommendations are fully acted on and implemented - it’s crucial that this now happens at pace.”

Rhiannon Davies, whose daughter Kate died at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, said there was a “generational change that needs to happen in maternity” on improving culture and ways of working that often result in midwives and doctors working in separate silos.

“This lack of respect for each other’s profession and the lack of working together, I think is at the root of many of the systemic problems we have in maternity across the NHS.”

The latest report is a line in the sand on maternity safety. It marks out what needs to happen next.

Inaction cannot be a viable response when we know it will lead to more tragedy and heartache for families.