A leaked document and a national catastrophe have erupted in Shrewsbury. Over 600 cases between 1979 and 2017 are being investigated. At least 42 babies died, 50 left permanently damaged and 3 mothers died as a result of poor midwifery care.
The Natural Child Birth Trust governs midwifery with an uncompromising belief in ‘natural childbirth’. It is an ideology that prefers to sees mothers and babies damaged and dying rather than respond appropriately to an obstetric emergency.
It is rooted in ‘midwifery led units’ where mothers give birth free from interference by medical professionals.
Midwifery led units are a lot cheaper to run than properly staffed obstetric wards. The NHS monopoly on childbirth allows ideologies like the National Childbirth Trust to flourish because results are immaterial until disaster. The midwifery response to poor outcomes is ‘If there are any problems it is because there is not enough Natural Childbirth and it has not been applied in a pure enough form’. Already the midwives are putting their defences in place – “more training and more money”.
We have to get real about health care. The faults are systemic and they will not be corrected by putting more money into a failing system. Not by insisting that every mother is fit and healthy and fully able to give birth in a painless complication free labour as long as the doctors keep away.
Patients, not ideologies, must come first. Further training in a failing system does not help. Instead we have to be responsible for what is happening now. Most people lead difficult unhealthy lives, women are not prepared for labour, which is the physical equivalent of running a marathon. Instead of viewing Caesarian sections as a last resort they need to be the first line of defence. There is nothing to be proud of if your unit’s Caesarian section rate is in single figures but mothers and babies are damaged and dying as a consequence. Up to date technology is essential to effectively monitor pregnancy and early intervention helps prevent tragedy.
If there are any heroes in this story is families like Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton whose baby Kate died in 2009 and who have pushed for almost a decade to establish an independent inquiry into this scandal
More money will make the situation worse. First attitudes must change, money is not going to solve a problem where ‘Natural Childbirth’ has a Marxist-like grip on maternal and obstetric care and patients are thrown to the wolves of power hungry, midwifery-based, ideological bureaucracy.