Agenda item

10.35

Andrew Stevens, Director of Planning and Information and Jane Hervé, Head of Midwifery from the Oxford University Hospital Trust will report (JHO6) to the committee on the Trust’s decision to suspend the intrapartum (births) service at the Cotswold Maternity Unit, Chipping Norton for a period of 3 months to enable the Trust to complete a review of the unit.

Public addresses were made by:

Cllr Hibbert-Biles

Kim Murray, Susannah King mothers

Sarah Boyd, user representative, Maternity Services Liaison Committee

Oxford University Hospitals Trust were represented by:

Jane Herve, head of the OUHT midwifery service,

Andrew Stevens, the director of planning,

Tony McDonald, General Manager, Children’s and Women’s Division

Cllr Hibbert-Biles requested that this item be held in camera, but the committee decided to remain in public session. Due to the nature of some of her concerns, Cllr Hibbert-Biles will write to the chairman privately.

Cllr Hibbert-Biles raised concerns about mothers being discharged two hours after giving birth, of accounts of poor treatment requiring transfers to Banbury, that the service had broken down after the departure of two senior midwives, and new-born babies were not receiving the early health checks they require. She wanted a full independent enquiry and asked the HOSC to request this of OUHT. The Royal College of Midwives should be involved in any enquiry to ensure objectivity.

Kim Murray, a mother, addressed the meeting  with her experiences of the unit. She had experienced poor treatment by the management and poor service by one of the mid-wives.  She is aware of similar incidents from other women

Susannah King, a user representative for the MSLC, detailed her experiences of poor management andlack of confidence in the current midwives. She wants an extensive and independent enquiry.

Sarah Boyd, the Midwifery Services Liaison co-ordinator, said she had surveyed local women for their experiences over the last year. 30 responses were received, some positive and some negative. Many reported the lack of an overnight service, inconsistency of staffing, a mother having to be let in by the cleaner, and mothers receiving poor attention from the midwives.  However, the unit itself was highly valued.

Jane Herve, the head of the OUHT midwifery service, Andrew Stevens, the director of planning, and Tony McDonald, General Manager, Children’s and Women’s Divisionaddressed the meeting on behalf of OUHT.

The trust highly values the maternity unit and is absolutely committed to reopening it as soon as possible. There are issues surrounding the unit and its staff which cannot be discussed in public.

The unit was suspended in view of comments received, mostly about working practices rather than one single incident, and as a result of other evidence such as benchmarking the service against both the other three midwifery led units in the county and national targets. There were particular concerns about the high level of transfers which were far above the expected levels. There has been no evidence of poor clinical provision or adverse outcomes, however. Mothers can stay for up to 24 hours and it is not the Trust’s policy to discharge women after two hours, although they can voluntarily discharge themselves if they wish.

OUHT are happy to take external advice on the review, including from the Royal College of Midwives. They are open to agreeing who should be involved with the Committee, and to having independent representation on the panel. The committee felt that three months was an excessive amount of time for the review. OUHT want a three month review to ensure thoroughness and that all key stakeholders are involved.

Dr Ruddle was concerned that keeping the unit closed for so long would raise questions about its viability, and that after re-opening it would take time for the unit to regain the confidence of the local population.  Cllr Hannaby asked why external staff could not be used to keep the unit open during the review. OUHT said that using outside staff raises issues about keeping the service open overnight.

It was AGREED that OUHT would liaise with the Chairman about the independent involvement in the review and to report back to the HOSC with the findings of the review as soon as possible in 2013