A collection of horrific birth experiences at the John Radcliffe Hospital (JR), Oxford is published today (Monday, June 17) by a group of hospital campaigners in a bid to reinstate consultant-led maternity services in Banbury.
Click here to download the KTHG births dossier
Keep the Horton General (KTHG) has distributed a dossier of birth traumas collected with Beth Hopper, a mother who experienced years of heartbreaking pregnancy loss including a devastating stillbirth.
Mrs Hopper explains her involvement in the Foreward. KTHG’s introduction comes before 50 cases where mothers describe unacceptable and unnecessarily traumatic childbirth – the result of the downgrade of the Horton Maternity Hospital, Banbury which was reduced to a midwife-only unit in 2016.
That Horton unit was rated ‘requires improvement’ in March 2024 having been a ‘good’ obstetric unit before the downgrade, which the JR used to cope with overflow.
The downgrade came eight years after the Secretary of State for Health refused to allow an identical plan on the basis that it was ‘unsafe and inhumane’ to transport women in labour 25-miles for obstetric care.
These awful accounts follow the Theo Clarke report into birth trauma and the recent Nottingham inquiry. This new publication is supported by the Birth Trauma Association.
The Theo Clarke inquiry report said – “…poor care was all-too-frequently tolerated as normal”. This appears to be happening at the JR.
The NHS paid an estimated £8.2 billion in 2021 – 2022 for birth negligence and ‘cost of harm’ in maternity services. The cost of running the Horton Maternity Hospital was estimated at c£2.1 million – a comparatively miniscule amount – and a drop in the ocean considering the emotional and physical damage now being suffered by some women (and in some cases babies).
To put this into context, the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust (OUH) pays over £88m p.a. on PFI. The Banbury hospital catchment is bigger than the population of Oxford city and deserves its own obstetric unit to prevent mothers suffering in this way.
KTHG is concerned that:
- A generation of women will record traumatic birth experiences – precisely the opposite of what should happen
- A generation of women will be forced to have Caesarean-sections in subsequent births because not all who have had a C-section may give birth naturally – because of the risk of uterine scar tissue bursting/tearing
- Babies whose deliveries are left, sometimes for days before birth, with mothers on hormones and drugs, may be subject to harm. We are not aware of research into the long-term consequences of this commonplace management system
- Women are feeling abused and suffering long-term mental health problems. The legal bar for NHS mistreatment is physical only. At what point will hospitals adopt a treatment code for mental abuse? Patients’ emotions matter too.
- KTHG believes JR midwives and doctors are under intense, unacceptable pressure at the JR through birth numbers (c7,500+ p.a.), leading to unacceptable ‘management’ of births and patient trauma described in the dossier.
For further information and contact with mothers:
Roseanne Edwards, Banbury Guardian Health Correspondent: 07803 505572 or email Roseanne
Charlotte Bird, KTHG Press / PR Officer: 07795 314530 or email Charlotte
Keith Strangwood, Chairman, KTHG: 07740 599736 or email Keith
Beth Hopper, dossier creator: 07581 271544 or email Beth
Notes:
- KTHG is aware of one major, multi-million pound negligence case involving a child born at the midwife only unit shortly after the downgrade who has been on palliative care for the 7 – 8 years since then.
- NHS Resolution’s annual accounts show that a total of £2.6 billion was spent on clinical negligence payments in 2022/23, up from £2.4 billion in 2021/22. The £8.2bn refer to the ‘cost of harm’ relating to maternity care in 2021/22.
- Further accounts, still being received, will be published, with mothers’ consent.
- Pre 2016 the Horton delivered c 1750 births a year – it is now around c120 a year.
- The Banbury population (with all Oxfordshire towns) is increasing exponentially creating an ever massive log-jam in the JR maternity unit. The Horton catchment was 160,000 in 2016 and is predicted by Oxfordshire County Council to be 235,000 by 2040.
- CQC prese release – CQC tells Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to make improvements
- CQC news – CQC rating for maternity services at the John Radcliffe Hospital drops from good to requires improvement
OUH statement to Banbury Guardian said: “Milica Redfearn, Director of Midwifery at OUH, said: “We aim to make every birth experience at our hospitals a good one. We recognise that this is not always the case and we strive to improve where services have not met our high standards.
“Earlier this year, the CQC’s national maternity survey demonstrated largely positive feedback about maternity services at OUH. Safe staffing is a priority of the OUH maternity service.
“Anyone who has concerns about the care they receive with us here at OUH is encouraged to speak up and raise these with us. We are a learning organisation and want to know where there are improvements that we can make. Our Birth Reflections Service offers support to women who have had a difficult birthing experience.”