Maternity care failings debated
The Royal College of Midwives says the care of women is at risk
MPs are to debate growing concerns over failings in NHS maternity services.
It comes ahead of a BBC Panorama programme which shows the pressure hospitals are under and claims wards are buckling under a midwife shortage.
In the programme, a reporter, posing as a volunteer, discovers a woman in labour being left in a corridor because there are no beds.
The government says maternity services are safer than ever and that it is up to trusts to decide on staffing levels.
BBC correspondent Sophie Hutchinson said the programme, which uses hidden cameras, paints “an extremely dismal picture” of NHS maternity services.
We spoke to women across the UK who reported problems similar to those that we saw undercover
And some families are shown giving harrowing accounts of how they believe poor care has led to their baby’s disability or even death.
Undercover reporter Hayley Cutts said: “We spoke to women across the UK who reported problems similar to those that we saw undercover so there’s no reason to believe that they just apply to the two hospitals that we went into.
….The programme will do little to dampen the concerns of opposition MPs who argue that a shortage of midwives has sparked a crisis.
But the government insists the UK remains one of the safest countries in the world in which to have a baby and that increased investment will see the number of midwives rise.
….Wayne Coyne’s baby daughter Caitlin died after she was starved of oxygen during an emergency Caesarean in hospital three years ago.
Understaffed and overstretched, that is the lot of midwives in some maternity units, a BBC Panorama investigation has discovered.
This Nationalized/Socialized system is the very thing Hillary Clinton wants to impose on American Women.
Jenny Hatch