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13 London hospitals named among worst for childbirth
Amy Iggulden, Health Correspondent27.11.07
London has some of the worst hospitals in the country for childbirth, a report shows.
The biggest ever survey of new mothers found 13 London hospital trusts are among the worst in the country on maternity care.
Women said they were left alone during labour, could not trust staff and had fears over cleanliness.
Bart's and The London NHS Trust was rated the worst in the country for care throughout labour and Whipps Cross in Leytonstone came bottom of a league table of satisfaction with staff.
The Healthcare Commission questioned 26,000 women in England, including more than 4,000 in London. Meanwhile, a Standard investigation shows women are making hundreds of official complaints about overcrowded wards and aggressive staff.
They have seen Caesarean sections and home births cancelled at the last minute and suffered delays for vital scans to detect Down's syndrome.
Campaigners called for improvements but midwives said massive staff shortages and vacancy rates of eight per cent meant they were overstretched.
The commission found one in four London mothers had no midwife to call during pregnancy, compared with an England average of one in 10. In London, 56 per cent were not offered a choice of home birth, in clear breach of NHS guidelines, compared with 43 per cent across the country.
Mothers in the capital were also more likely to give birth in stirrups - against guidelines - with 44 per cent delivering in that position at Bart's.
At least 13 per cent of women in London said they were not treated with respect after birth, almost double the England average. One in three did not get help with breastfeeding. Nationally, 76 per cent of women said care during labour was excellent or very good. Only 34 per cent said overall care at Bart's was very good or excellent, the worst rating in the country.
Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, said: "There are huge hospitals seeing huge numbers of women, yet too few midwives."
Kay Riley, director of nursing at Bart's and The London, said: "Clearly there are women who feel we are not meeting those needs and we must do better."
She said the trust had reviewed care last year and was making improvements. Nationally, about one in four women was left alone during childbirth when they were worried but the figure rose to almost half of new mothers in Bart's and The London and also in Lewisham Hospital. At least four in 10 women said they were left alone when scared at several hospital trusts: Newham, Barking, Havering and Redbridge, North Middlesex and Barnet and Chase Farm. Other trusts with poor satisfaction ratings among new mothers were The Royal Free in Hampstead, Mayday Healthcare in Croydon, North West London, Kingston, Hammersmith Hospitals and King's College Hospital. Meanwhile, the Standard has found 718 official complaints about maternity care were made in London last year - one per 170 births, compared with one per 254 births nationwide. The rate of complaints fell slightly.
CASE STUDY: 'MIDWIVES HAVE AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM'
Sarah Mitchell spent 48 hours in labour before giving birth by emergency Caesarean section.
She said that within hours she was struggling to breastfeed and increasingly distressed by the "attitude problem" of midwives looking after her.
The 29-year-old radio producer had her daughter Clementine delivered at The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead in January. She has complained to the Healthcare Commission, which is investigating.
"I had explained to the hospital that I was incredibly nervous about giving birth but it seemed to make no difference," she said.
"I knew my daughter was in the wrong position and I kept asking them to scan me but nothing happened for 48 hours. I was in so much pain. Then I had a Caesarean because she was breech. But when I woke up the staff were unpleasant."
Ms Mitchell, from Highgate, continued: "They told me I was selfish trying to breastfeed and that Clementine was suffering because I was struggling. They were pressuring me to bottlefeed.
"I also found it hard to move because of the operation on my stomach muscles. I was asking for help but three midwives refused to help me get up."
When Ms Mitchell's partner Chris Cope was cuddling his daughter, staff allegedly ordered him to wrap the baby up tighter and said: "I won't tell you again."
A spokesman for the Royal Free said: "Senior obstetric staff are keen to meet Ms Mitchell to discuss her concerns further but so far she has declined. We would be happy to arrange this at any time if she decides she would like to discuss any outstanding issues."
THE FAILING TRUSTS
Bart's and the London NHS Trust
Whipps Cross
Lewisham Hospital
Newham
Barking, Havering and Redbridge
North Middlesex Barnet and Chase Farm
The Royal Free
Mayday Healthcare
North West London
Kingston
Hammersmith Hospitals
King's College Hospital
Reader views (6)
I had my baby at newham a few weeks ago and I have to say it was the worst experience ever for a first time mum and is enough to put anyone off birth for life. I got turned back 3 times even after my waters had broken, first they said they didn't have any beds, then the midwife (who was very short with me, and acted like i was a nuisance) said I had false labour, had been here 3times already and refused to admit me without even checking to see if i had dialated. By the time i managed to get admitted, i was already 7cm dialated and my baby was in distress so had to be rushed in for an emergency C-section.
A few days later, i was back in the hospital with a blood clot in my lungs and an infection. I say THANK YOU NHS/NEWHAM hospital for making what should have been the best moment of my life.. now the most traumatic
- Kamanne, London
I had my baby at Whipps Cross hospital and i got really very bad memories about postnatal care.Most of the staff didnt care about you.
After the baby was born the first night i did make a call for a help.better not.The midwife was quite rude,and not happy that i was disturbing her!I explaned that i need help with brestfeeding(iTS my 1st baby),and i find it difficult to move,as i feel my leg numb,so its difficult to walk , difficult to get up from bed,to change the baby,to feed him,and most important to put him safely to its bed!midwife told sooner i start moving,sooner i recover!Can you imagine,i could drop my baby on the floor,as i was not walking stabile.But they asked if i had cezarian,when i said no-i had ventouse suction.they thought i was fine to care after my baby and myself!
the next morning i got lots of pain around my knee(i have varicose veins),i could barely walk..the feeling was that the veins will explode..nobody again put attention to it..exept one doctor (nurse),sorry i dont know her name.so thanks to her i got my scan for blood clots.thanks god i diddnot have a blood clot! but if somebody is not so lucky and have it and nobody makes any action about it,the results could be really bad.
I had problem with my leg for 6months,had physio.
Now i am fine,but it was long recovery!im pregnant with my 2nd,Ill not go there again
- Kristi, london ,Walthamstow
My 2nd child now 5 was born at King George Hospital Goodmayes, I am still traumatised from the labour and birth 5 yrs on! I was left alone on a pre-labour ward and everytime I called the emergency button the response I got was "we are dealing with lots of patients here" hence to say, they would not call my husband or anybody to be with me until I went to labour ward which then my daughter was born 20 mins later after finding me a room. My husband arrived an hour after she was born. It was a nightmare I cant even try and forget.
- Melanie, Southend
I had a baby in Kings College Hospital and I feel traumatised by the dirt and the way I was treated particularly by the nasty health care assistants and dinner servers who would freely open your curtain whilst you were naked or breast feedings.
I felt like I was in a third world country not the richest country in the world.
- Claire Ellis, Streatham, London
It is so true that many of the problems experienced in maternity units are down to government initiatives, they say they want to provide 'woman centred care' and give 'choice' but then expect 1 midwife to look after and be responsible for 12 women on postnatal ward and discharge them all by midday! how 'woman centred' can be the care they give under those conditions?
But saying that, midwives with attitude will never have an excuse for being horrible to women and their families, that is unacceptable, I am one of those midwives under stress and working in appalling conditions but I have never dreamed in my life not to treat women with respect and listen to their needs!
- Jo, South London
I would like to respond in saying that I have been a midwife for the past nine years and having worked at one of the hospitals named above, I feel very strongly that this is a governement issue that needs addressing, they are creating management jobs and paying them top salaries but now there is more chiefs than indians and no one monitoring what benefit these changes have on the service provided. But instead the poor midwifes who are trying to provide care to the best of their abilities. The antenatal, postnatal and labour wards are being run on minimal staff, they get bad press and nobody, asks the question why at least 4 in 10 women say they are left alone in labour? This is all due to cut backs and government initatives, which are clearly not realistic and probably cost more in payouts due to the amount of complaints that need addressing and payoffs. When I trained it was one midwife to one women in labour, what is happening?
- Olivia Hegarty, London
