Agony of the parents stopped from seeing seriously ill babies
PARENTS are being kept away from their babies in intensive care as hospitals impose ‘horrendous’ social distancing rules, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
One mother, Taylor Moss, told of her anguish at how visits to her seven- week premature baby,
Tyger-Rose, were being restricted. Her daughter was given less than a five per cent chance of survival and has been in intensive care for the past ten days. But the hospital only allows one parent in at a time.
Ms Moss said: ‘We had to pick alternate days to see our child. It made us feel horrendous, and me very vulnerable. It was horrible.’
Another new mother told how she was not allowed to hold her baby for more than 24 hours after giving birth. She said: ‘I spent the whole day crying to see her.’
Clinicians have raised alarm over the policies. One midwife told The Mail on Sunday the rules could damage a baby’s chances of survival.
This newspaper is campaigning to end the scandal of lone births which l eaves women at half of NHS Trusts without support, flying in the face of the Government guidelines.
The campaign has today been backed by Stoke MP Jonathan Gullis, whose first child, Amelia, was kept in hospital for a week after she was born last month with a high temperature, and needed antibiotics. Mr Gullis was only allowed to see her for an hour a day while she was in hospital. ‘I felt like I’d missed out on a really big bonding opportunity,’ he said. ‘It is essential that parents be able to access their child, especially where it could be the difference between life and death’
Joeli Brearley of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, said: ‘It is unimaginable that a parent would be prevented from touching and holding their own baby after birth, particularly when the baby is sick and requires intensive care.’
A poll commissioned by The Mail on Sunday from Deltapoll has found nearly two-thirds of people support our campaign.