The head of midwifery at Nottingham hospitals admits some parents are choosing to have their babies elsewhere due to an ongoing review into its maternity services. However, Ruth Brown, who is working in the role on an interim basis at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), said the trust was already seeing improvements in its departments.
The maternity units at Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital are currently subject to an independent review, led by Donna Ockenden, following cases of preventable baby deaths and harm. More than 1,400 families and staff have so far contacted the probe.
As a result of the review, which is likely to become the largest of its kind in NHS history, Ms Brown said evidence suggested some parents were choosing to have their babies elsewhere. "A number of women that access our service that are from borders areas, such as people who are equidistant between us and Derby, Sherwood Forest or Leicester, we have noticed a small number of women who have chosen others," she told Nottinghamshire Live on a visit to the maternity unit at City Hospital.
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"I think that is understandable, if I was in that situation given the publicity that has been seen I would. But we've also seen in line with other trusts a dropping birth-rate. But anecdotally and data would show in some of our areas that women that would have traditionally come to us have gone to those units that are closer.
"Maternity in the UK is under the spotlight and there'll be different times when different key messages hit the public radar." The midwifery boss, who works across both City Hospital and QMC, said improvements had already been made around maternity care, adding that NUH was not waiting for the end of the review to make changes.
On the ward, Megan Wing, who has been a midwife at City Hospital for around a year, said she had "good and bad days". "Supporting women and families is what we get into the job for in the first place so that's the most rewarding thing for me," she said.
On the impacts of the independent review on staff, the 24-year-old said: "It doesn't affect our job as such, more so it affects the staff's morale. Because when you come into work and see things about the trust you work at on the news or you go home and someone says 'have you seen this about your workplace' it does make you not feel as confident about what you're doing.
"You have to remember it's not to do with your own practice and it doesn't affect what you do every day." Evie Lord, 22, a midwife who joined NUH six months ago, added: "I think it's something everyone has in the back of their mind, but generally we have to put women and their families first."
Ms Brown added: "My main message is we're not waiting for the end result of that review before addressing the concerns that have been highlighted to us," she said. "We want people to feel safe and confident, we're working towards that improved outcome, we're working really closely with lots of different people to make that improvement.
"We've addressed some of the big things right up front and comparing our trust to others. We've started the improvement journey and seen improvements already and we continue to listen to the voice of people who use our service."
NUH said improvements across its service include:
- The introduction of a 24 hour maternity advice line
- The introduction of an online app called Badgernet which enables pregnant women and birthing people to access their pregnancy notes
- Investment in staff training for obstetric emergencies, fetal monitoring and human factors
- Introduction of fetal monitoring leads for midwifery and obstetrics, tasked with supporting the team to follow best practice
- Appointing more consultant obstetricians and providing better cover across our two hospitals
- Ongoing recruitment of midwives and retaining of midwives and expansion of infant feeding team
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