Mothers-to-be ‘treated like cattle’ in crisis-hit hospitals
WOMEN giving birth in NHS maternity units are being treated like ‘cattle’ or ‘products on a conveyor belt’, a damning report warns today.
Half are made to endure poor care including delays in pain relief or having vital observations during the labour.
Some are told not to come to ‘ extremely busy’ maternity units and end up having births at home or on another ward.
The National Childbirth Trust’s report warns that a desperate lack of midwives and cash has left labour wards in ‘crisis’.
Around half of hospitals have to close their doors temporarily to women in labour and divert them, as they are so busy. Campaigners claim the NHS is short of 3,500 midwives and blame the Government for not training enough staff to meet the rising birth rate.
Today’s report is based on a detailed survey of 2,493 women who gave birth in England and Wales in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Half said they had experienced a delay in pain relief, medication, tests or being cleaned after a birth. These ‘red flag’ events – as defined by NHS watchdog NICE – are a sign of severe understaffing. Managers are supposed to take immediate action by hiring extra midwives or temporarily closing units.
A total of 45 per cent of women were given no choice in where to give birth – despite an NHS drive to offer more options including deliveries in smaller midwife-led centres.
One woman said she’d developed post-traumatic stress disorder after her ordeal. ‘I wasn’t treated as a human. I was just a product on a conveyor belt,’ she said. Another told of her ‘unbearable’ experience and expectant mothers treated ‘like cattle’.
Elizabeth Duff, senior policy adviser at the NCT, said: ‘Our research has exposed a crisis in maternity care. No women should have to suffer a red flag event when bringing a baby into the world. Severe staffing shortages must be acted on.’
Louise Silverton, director for midwifery at the Royal College of Midwives, said the findings were ‘ hugely worrying’ and added: ‘It is a sign of services under too much pressure, with too few resources and not enough staff.’