My baby died due to midwife error — I won’t let her loss be in vain
A MUM who lost her baby after blunders by midwives has slammed England’s failing maternity units – after nearly 40 per cent were deemed not safe enough.
Danielle Johnston lost daughter Sadie just hours after her birth when medics mistakenly monitored her own heartbeat instead of the baby’s.
The tragic error meant they failed to notice when Sadie became distressed in the womb.
She was starved of oxygen and later died.
Danielle says no new parents should lose a child because of hospital failings, as she and Sadie’s dad Rob Pye did, and that better and safer care MUST be provided.
She spoke out after a report by the Care Quality Commission health regulator found 38 per cent of units were currently rated as “requiring improvement for safety” with a further one per cent “inadequate”.
Dr Bill Kirkup, who is a member of the Expert Advisory Panel at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), is investigating a string of deaths at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.
And he revealed that some “actively conceal” mistakes.
Danielle, 34, said: “No other mother should have to go through what I went through. Sadie should never have died and I still grieve for her every day.
“After we lost her, the hospital tried to cover up what happened. It was made out to be bad luck, one of those things. But when we went to court, one of the midwives admitted she wasn’t highly trained enough to cope when things started to go wrong.
“I always liked to think Sadie’s death would not be in vain, that by taking the NHS to court we would stop this happening to other parents. It saddens me to hear that some maternity units are still covering up what is going on.
“Parents have to go home and live with this every day for the rest of their lives. No good has come of Sadie’s death. Lessons should have been learned, but they weren’t.”
Danielle, from Little Hulton, Greater Manchester, was induced at the Royal Bolton Hospital in June 2011 when she was eight months pregnant.
Midwives noticed the baby’s heart rate shoot up after Danielle’s waters broke, but it appeared to return to normal 30 minutes later.
A doctor checked on her and said he would be back to check Sadie’s heart rate, but he never returned, leaving Danielle with a trainee midwife.
She said: “I was in lots of pain so I had an epidural. I kept going in and out of consciousness.
“I knew something was wrong. A midwife noticed this and seemed to panic.
“She was looking at the CTG monitor [to track the baby’s heartbeat] and expressed concern.”
After Sadie was born, doctors said she had minor brain damage and she was rushed to Arrowe Park Hospital in the Wirral.
But on the way she suffered a cardiac arrest and her life support was turned off on arrival.
Hairdresser Danielle, who is also mum to Lewis, 12, and Bobbi, eight, was devastated.
I knew something was wrong. A midwife noticed this and seemed to panic.
The Sun has asked the Royal Bolton Hospital for comment.
It admitted negligence in 2017, when a spokeswoman for the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are deeply sorry for the circumstances that led to the sad death of Ms Johnston’s daughter, Sadie.
“The trust carried out a full review into the care that Ms Johnston and her daughter received whilst they were patients at the hospital, and actions were identified and taken to minimise the risk of an incident of this nature happening again.”
But Danielle said: “Maternity units are understaffed and too busy to cope with the number of babies being born.
“There are not enough midwives or doctors. Mistakes are going to happen until something is done.
“It’s even more worrying that many hospitals are not open about their failings.”
No good has come of Sadie’s death. Lessons should have been learned, but they weren’t.
Currently more than 2,000 potentially avoidable baby deaths, stillbirths and cases of brain damage are being investigated at various hospital trusts.
Most have occurred at the Shrewsbury And Telford Hospital NHS Trust since 2000, but an investigation has also begun into 40 similar cases in East Kent Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust and 150 cases at two maternity units in South Wales.
A senior midwife, who asked not to be named, admits mistakes have been covered up at the London hospital where she works.
She said: “The reality is that we don’t have enough staff and some of us have to work very long shifts looking after lots of patients all at once. Mistakes do happen. Staff are trying their best so they get defensive when things go wrong.
“They are not always open with families about what has gone on.”
The coronavirus pandemic has put even more pressure on maternity units, with the second wave likely to increase staff shortages.
The midwife said: “At the start of lockdown, some of our team were moved to Covid wards to look after the people who were coming in.
“They were being taken away from an already understaffed maternity ward. The few midwives left were trying to manage pregnant women, women in labour and new mums. All of them had more concerns than usual because of what was going on. We were scrabbling around for PPE.
“Even now colleagues are having to take time off to self-isolate and that is going to get worse as the numbers go up. We all work hard but the truth is there is not enough of us, and until that changes, things are going to go wrong.”
Trade union the Royal College of Midwives said coronavirus has led to even bigger staffing problems, with one in five midwifery posts now unfilled.
Elizabeth Duff, senior policy advisor at the National Childbirth Trust, said staffing shortages are one of the biggest problems facing maternity units.
She added: “I have a lot of sympathy with midwives and doctors who are often required to look after women who are in labour, women in late pregnancy and those with new babies all at the same time.
"With good staffing levels, that shouldn’t be happening. If women don’t get what they need, they often feel they are not being listened to.
“Having a baby is a very personal and important milestone for every family and staff need care that recognises that. Mothers want to be treated as human beings.”
Poor communication is a key failing in some units, Elizabeth says. “Staff need to listen to women and their partners and if things do go wrong, it’s best to be open and answer their questions. Families need answers.”
While the second Covid wave will be “extremely difficult”, Elizabeth believes hospitals are better prepared for it.
She said: “In the first weeks of lockdown, some nurses, midwives and health visitors were deployed to Covid wards. It is now clear that frontline staff in maternity and health visiting services should not be redeployed.
“Women, babies and new families need their care and their skills.”
On the plus side, many units are now providing mums-to-be with a dedicated midwife through labour.
Elizabeth added: “There are some positives to come as a result of Covid.
“Many units are trying to provide continuity so that each woman will see just one or two midwives throughout her journey.
“That is helpful in terms of infection control, but women will also be more at ease.”
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Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, says the pandemic has exposed gaps which already existed in maternity services.
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She added: “While other areas of the health service can postpone and cancel procedures under Covid, there is still an ongoing need for maternity services.
“Women are still pregnant, still having babies and they need the care and support of properly resourced maternity services.”
Case study: Liz Matthews
LIZ MATTHEWS says medics failed to spot her waters had broken and that she had developed sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to an infection, before she had son Charlie in January 2019.
She recalled: “I was ten days past my due date when I started to feel really ill. I felt shivery and feverish. I was in pain.”
Liz, 37, phoned the labour ward at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, but as she wasn’t having any contractions, the midwife advised her to stay at home.
She said: “I was in so much pain I couldn’t even walk down the stairs but the midwife said if I wasn’t in labour, I shouldn’t come in.
“About six hours later, I started to get very worried. The pain was getting worse.
“I phoned again and they said I could go in to be checked over.”
Liz, a project sponsor who lives in Chelmsford with 40-year-old husband Paul, a transport manager, did not realise her waters had broken, putting her and her baby at risk of serious infection.
She said: “I didn’t have a big gush so my waters must have broken gradually.
“When I arrived at hospital, I was examined by a student midwife. She said my waters were still intact, which was wrong. No one checked.
“They told me I wasn’t in labour and should go home.”
But as Liz was packing her bags to leave, another doctor raised concerns about the baby’s heart rate.
She recalled: “He said they would keep me in for another 20 minutes to monitor the baby and when they still weren’t happy, I was told they would break my waters to bring on labour.
“It was incredibly painful. It wasn’t until some hours later that a new doctor realised my waters had gone.
“I had developed sepsis and was rushed through for an emergency caesarean.”
Charlie was born blue and not breathing and had to be taken straight to intensive care.
Liz said: “Everything happened so fast, I didn’t even know he’d been born before they took him away.
“I later found out he wasn’t breathing when he was born.
“My husband didn’t know whether to go with the baby or stay with me.”
Both Liz and Charlie needed antibiotics to treat the infection.
She said: “The team treating me were brilliant but no one would tell me about my baby.
“I didn’t even know if he was alive.
“I finally got to see him about eight hours later. He remained in intensive care for a day and a half before spending a night with me, but I was very unwell and not really fit to take care of him so Charlie ended up going home with his dad.”
It was only after Paul complained to doctors that Liz’s antibiotics did not appear to be working that her prescription was changed and her condition improved.
She said: “I had to stay in hospital for 12 days in total.
“If I’d been examined properly when I arrived perhaps I could have been given treatment sooner and things wouldn’t have got as bad as they did.”
Diane Sarkar, Chief Nursing Officer for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are always looking to improve the care and experience of women using our maternity services, and take any concerns extremely seriously.
"We’d encourage Elizabeth to get in touch with us to we can discuss these issues further.”
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