A NEW compensation scheme for birth injuries is here to benefit parents in the UK whose children have been injured during birth.
Parents in England are currently obligated to, “wait for more than 11 years for a court settlement”, according to Jeremy Hunt’s latest statement.
However, this new scheme allows complaints to settle sooner and the medical staff to talk openly about their contribution during birth.
The new Rapid Resolution and Redress scheme, will investigate the 500 cases of avoidable harm to newborns during birth, which occurred each year.
After the story of Joshua Titcombe’s death which was a result of a midwife’s malpractice in November 2008, it has became clearer that this compensation is needed.
Susan Baines, Lecturer of Midwifery and Independent Midwife within Salford says: “There are numerous risks associated with labour and birth, perhaps one of the most significant is failing to identify and promptly act on abnormal fetal heart rates. Additionally, incurring birth trauma.”
According to a BBC report, the estimation for last years NHS expenses on legal disputes for maternity staff mistakes were over £500m.
Baines added: “The NHS spends a vast amount of its total care budget on litigation and also the process takes a considerable amount of time, creating stress for everyone involved. Additionally, healthcare providers often “close ranks” and parents may interpret this as they’re hiding something, which serves to fuel litigation.
“I feel this new scheme will be of use, but only if changes actually occur in dealing with safety issues and risk within the NHS to begin with and if an open and no blame culture is supported.”
Some risks associated with birth occur naturally and not due to the efforts of doctors, midwives or health professionals, disorders such as Cerebral Palsy occur in 1.2 out of every 1000 births and Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE) which affects 20 out of every 1000 births. These disorders happen while the baby is in the womb and are unpreventable.
In any case where the maternity staff injures or leads to the death of a baby, the issue is then reported to the hospital management and recorded on the official maternity risk notifications. These cases are reported to the NHS regulatory body, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the NHS trust insurance scheme.
If necessary, disciplinary action is enforced, if the injury was a midwife’s fault, she will be the subject to a formal Supervisory (NMC) investigation.
If any injury is caused by a Doctor, the General Medical Council (GMC) is informed and the mother, father and respective family are made aware. Depending on circumstanced they will decide upon any necessary legal action.
Susan Baines added, “The finite maternity budget is apportioned to meeting litigation claims, it is perceived that if staff could only say they were “sorry” and admit their failures, mothers would not litigate.”
Baines believes there is a lot of work needed, and the current system doesn’t adequately help those mothers or families who have injured babies after birth.
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