Lawford Kidd's Blog

The report of the investigation into maternity and neonatal services in Morecambe Bay has been published, and makes a number of far-reaching recommendations to prevent future unnecessary deaths.

The investigation was established by the Secretary of State for Health in September 2013 following concerns over serious incidents in the maternity department at Furness General Hospital (FGH).

Covering January 2004 to June 2013, the report concludes the maternity unit at FGH was dysfunctional and that serious failures of clinical care led to unnecessary deaths of mothers and babies.

An eight-year-old girl has been awarded compensation amounting to several million pounds after she sustained a serious brain injury at birth, reports the BBC.

Ayla Ellison’s birth at Furness General Hospital in Barrow was described as “traumatic” and she was deprived of oxygen, causing catastrophic brain injury.

She is totally immobile and has to be fed through a tube. In addition, she is unable to regulate her own body temperature, leaving her at constant risk of developing hypothermia.

According to a recent Freedom of Information request, as at 17 December 2014, NHS Fife has faced approximately £17 million in negligence claims.

The Fife Health Board faced a total of 116 claims, which can be broken down as follows:

In response to proposals published by the Scottish Government, currently subject to consultation, on imposing a ‘duty of candour’ for healthcare providers, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has urged doctors and other medical staff to be upfront and honest in regards to any medical errors. However, the group also warns that divulging all information in regards to near misses may be “too burdensome” for healthcare workers and may damage the reputation of the NHS.

If the move is approved in the Scottish parliament, it will mean that healthcare staff and those working in social services will be legally obliged to tell families when a patient has been harmed as a result of medical negligence.

Consultation Launched

Patients undergoing operations in private hospitals may be put at risk from inadequate equipment, lack of intensive care beds, unsafe staffing arrangements, and poor medical record-keeping, according to a new report from the Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI).

The report reveals that over 800 people have died unexpectedly in private hospitals in England during the last four years. Unlike in the NHS, private hospitals are not required to make data on hospital deaths publicly available, which can make it difficult for the public to understand how safe these hospitals are.

The CHPI report is the first to bring together what is known about patient safety in private hospitals in England. It found that: