Woman demands answers as to why her son was stillborn
A HEARTBROKEN woman whose son was stillborn says she has “many unanswered questions” as to why NHS staff were unable to save him.
Hayley Ryan, from Aberdare, was 40 when she gave birth to her stillborn baby boy, Zaiyan, on June 12, 2020, at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil.
Immediately afterwards she was taken to intensive care as her kidneys were failing and her liver had shut down.
She was placed into an induced coma and transferred a few days later to a hospital in Birmingham for further specialist treatment.
When she woke up in Birmingham, Hayley was so disorientated that she had no idea where she was and had forgotten she had lost her baby.
She was in hospital for three weeks before being discharged at the end of June 2020.
The 42-year-old made a complaint to Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (UHB), and while management acknowledged they are investigating, a formal response has still not arrived 16 months later.
She has now instructed lawyers to investigate her care and assess whether more could have been done in the time leading up to her stillbirth and to support her with the psychological consequences.
Hayley has spoken out about her ordeal in the wake of a damning new report by an independent maternity oversight panel which found that one in three babies stillborn at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, and Royal Glamorgan Hospital, Llantrisant, between January 1, 2016, and September 30, 2018, may have survived with improvements in care.
“The last few months and trying to come to terms with what happened has been the most difficult time of my life,” said Hayley.
“Giving birth to Zaiyan was absolutely horrific. It’s almost impossible to put into words the emotion of it all, knowing your baby had already died. It still breaks my heart that he is not back at home with us.
“What makes things even harder to try and come to terms with is still having so many unanswered questions about what happened and whether more could have been done to help Zaiyan.”
Hayley said she found out she was pregnant in December 2019 and all early scans and investigations were normal.
But in April 2020 she became unwell and was admitted to Prince Charles Hospital for investigation. She was vomiting and blood tests and an ultrasound was performed which showed suspected urinary tract infections and kidney stones. She was discharged the following day with no further treatment.
On Tuesday, June 9, 2020, Hayley was admitted to Prince Charles Hospital once again with nausea and vomiting and discharged again the following day.
However by June 12, Hayley had deteriorated rapidly, was feverish and very disorientated.
An ambulance was called and she was taken back to the same hospital. Tests showed no fetal heartbeat and Hayley gave birth to stillborn Zaiyan later that evening.
As reported in the Echo, an independent report into stillbirths at the two Cwm Taf hospitals was published on Tuesday – the second of two thematic reports.
Of the 63 cases reviewed between January 1, 2016, and September 30, 2018, 21 babies (33%) were delivered stillborn following major factors in care which “contributed significantly to the poor outcome”. Of the 63 incidents reviewed, areas for learning were identified in 59 of them.
Maternity services at Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB were placed into special measures following an earlier report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives in April 2019 which unearthed a serious of failures.
“This report brings back all of the emotion and upset I’ve had to go through. It’s horrible to think that other women may have had similar experi
This report brings back all of the emotion and upset I’ve had to go through. It’s horrible to think that other women may have had similar experiences to me. My heart goes out to all those people affected
Hayley Ryan
ences to me. My heart goes out to all those people affected,” Hayley added.
“Nothing can make up for what’s happened but I just hope this report sees changes, and that lessons are learned from the devastation this has caused.
“Physically I have made a full recovery but the psychological scars of such an event never leave you. Our family lost my son and then they had the fear they would lose me too. Counselling has helped but it brings it all back.”
Julie Lewis, an expert medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell – which is representing families affected by maternity care issues – said: “This thematic report into stillbirth paints a worrying picture of an environment where there appears to have been a failure to listen to and value the concerns of women, made worse by staff attitudes, and compounded by a lack of bereavement support and care after birth.
“Guidelines were not always in place and they were not consistently used in practice or audited when they were.
“While the report rightly states that the numbers involved need to be seen in context of wider maternity care, this will be little comfort to those families who are devastated that they could have seen a different outcome. The families are not just a statistic. Behind every number is a story about how a family has been left heartbroken by issues in the care they received.
Among a string of recommendations, the panel’s reports states that the health board should publish a formal response to the findings and seek to understand why the reduction in stillbirth rates in other areas of the UK does not appear to have been realised here.
Executive director of nursing and midwifery at Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Greg Dix, said: “Losing a baby is tragic for any family, and our sincere and heartfelt condolences go out to all of our families who have lost a child to still birth in our health board.
“We will never forget the tragedies suffered by women, their families and our staff, and the learning from these cases is the foundation on which we are building our improvement plans.
“Our health board is continually working to understand and reduce our stillbirths as a matter of priority, and we are already making significant progress. The improvement work detailed in the report is a demonstration of our continued commitment to ensure our stillbirths are as low as they can possibly be, to avoid any family having to face unnecessarily such a tragic event.”
In response specifically to Hayley’s case, a spokeswoman for Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB said: “The loss of any baby is a deeply tragic experience for a family and our heartfelt condolences go out to Hayley Ryan’s family at this exceptionally difficult time.
“It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the care received by any individual. However, we are well under way with a robust maternity services improvement programme, and the learning from each of the cases in the still birth category is the foundation on which we are building our improvement plans.”