Nottingham Hospitals Trust says midwife culture changing for the better
As I continue to support families horrifically affected by maternity failings at the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital in Nottingham, there are at least some small signs of improvement via a comment from the director of midwifery at the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUHT).
The Trust runs both hospitals which saw an unprecedented and scandalous number of baby deaths between 2010 and 2020. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), which runs the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, is the focus of the largest inquiry in NHS history into its maternity services.
The Trust's midwifery director Sharon Wallis said recently that the Trust has recruited 49 midwives since 2021 when a damning Care Quality Commission report said a culture of bullying and racial discrimination was contributing to staff leaving.
Ms Wallis promised that the work culture is changing after highlighting that none of the Trust's newly qualified midwives have left over the past 15 months and that sickness is also down. She added that interviews are ongoing for the remaining 20 full-time midwifery vacancies.
She also said that there are now always at least two senior midwives 24 hours a day on both hospital sites. There has also been a reduction in incidents reported to the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) programme, part of a national strategy to improve maternity safety.
That midwives aren't resigning may seem like a form of reverse positivity, but after such a terrible period for Nottingham hospitals, any small improvements are welcome in the Trust's efforts to rebuild public trust in its maternity care.
Likewise, research coming out of the University of Birmingham in conjunction with the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, itself the subject of a recent maternity scandal, suggests that women are more likely to receive good care during pregnancy when AI and other clinical software tools are incorporated into their care.
Almost 50 different types of clinical decision support systems (CDSS) in maternity settings across high, middle and low income countries were reviewed in the global study. It concluded that CDSS can help expectant mothers and healthcare workers make safe decisions, for example using a software programme designed to help women decide if they wanted a vaginal birth after previously having a C-section.
Analysis of the data from more than 5.2 million pregnancies concluded that the odds of improved outcomes was 69% higher in women cared for using CDSS.
In a similar vein, technology is also being used by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust to livestream Caesarean section surgery enabling student midwives, student nurses and resident doctors to observe the surgery in real time.
The surgeon wears a camera and microphone headset during the C-section, livestreaming the process to students with the consent of the patient. The point-of-view camera and precision zoom functionality allow students to see exactly what the surgeon sees.
As I say, small steps, but together these initiatives give us some hope at least that the previous and current government's promises to prioritise maternity services may be bearing some fruit.
Read more about our birth injury cases and how to begin a birth injury claim.