Midwives in baby deaths probe were praised by experts

A HEALTH trust at the centre of a maternity scandal was praised by watchdogs for performing a low number of caesareans.

The Shrewsbury and Telford hospital group is the subject of a major review over concerns that dozens of babies and mothers died needlessly.

Yesterday, the Mail revealed that up to 60 possible cases of poor maternity care have been identified at the trust since 1998 – three times more than first thought.

The NHS regulator has since confirmed it is planning to widen its review to consider all of the additional cases.

But documents reveal that the trust was praised by two official bodies for having a low caesarean section rate and for encouraging women to have natural births.

Both the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists singled out the low number of surgical births as one of the trust’s strengths.

Several families claim their babies died because midwives were intent on them being born naturally, rather than via caesarean or through the use of forceps.

Published last August, the CQC’s report states: ‘The trust was achieving higher than average vaginal birth rates. The caesarean rates were below (better than) the trust and national targets.’

It rates the trust’s main maternity department – the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford – as ‘good’, in terms of effectiveness, in part because of the low numbers.

A second report published last month by the royal college highlighted the trust’s low caesarean section rates as a strength. The document states that only 14 per cent of women who had their first baby at the trust had a caesarean section, compared with a national average of 22 per cent.

Experts believe the drive for natural childbirth may have contributed to many of the deaths and incidents of poor care. Yesterday, health watchdog NHS Improvement said it would widen the review into the hospital’s maternity services to consider additional cases.

It was launched last January to look into 23 cases and was due to report back later this year. But fig- ures uncovered by the Health Service Journal and shared with the Mail show that at least 60 cases have now been identified.

The Shrewsbury trust yesterday accused the Mail and others of scaremongering. It acknowledged 60 cases of potential poor care had been identified but claimed that 19 of these had been dismissed.

The CQC insisted its report was not praising the trust’s low caesarean rates but merely pointing out how they compared.