Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth Scheme: New NHS Programme.

On 7 October, the NHS launched a new programme to help reduce brain injury in childbirth in the hopes of improving maternity safety. It is well known that there are widespread concerns about maternity care within Trusts across the UK, with particular issues highlighted in Donna Ockenden’s Maternity Review of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and more recently, The Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust as well as the Lucy Letby case.

The Scheme, which has been backed by £7.8 million in government funding, will help to train maternity staff to better identify and act quickly when babies are in distress during labour in an effort to achieve the government’s ambition to urgently improve maternity outcomes for women and babies.

The Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth (ABC) is being piloted across nine maternity units at NHS Trusts where poor outcomes had been reported due to repeated learning incidents such as impacted foetal head during birth by caesarean section and detection and response to foetal deterioration. The nine Trusts are:

• Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
• Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust
• Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Croydon Health Services NHS Trust
• Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust
• St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The programme could be rolled out nationally next year if the pilot is successful.

The ABC programme aims to:

• Help maternity staff to better identify signs that the baby is showing distress during labour so they can act quickly.
• Help staff to deal with important obstetric emergencies that occur when a baby’s head becomes lodged deep in the mother’s pelvis during a caesarean.
• Improve clinical practice, communication and care for women and families to result in better outcomes and experiences.
• Provide continuity and equality of care.

The Neonatal Data Analysis Unit at Imperial College London published data showing that in 1,000 live births, 4.2 babies received at least one episode of care for a brain injury either during or after birth in 2021.

The Scheme is also expected to reduce the rising cost of clinical negligence cases. At present, maternity claims account for around 10% of clinical negligence cases and equate to more than 50% of the total value of clinical negligence payments. This figure is so significant because a brain injury at birth can affect someone for the rest of their life, and therefore compensation can be claimed to ensure they receive lifetime care.

Here at Lanyon Bowdler, our dedicated team of clinical negligence specialists have decades of experience successfully handling brain injury at birth claims. If you think that your child has been affected by a brain injury acquired at their birth, please contact our team today.