Industry experts have responded to a recently published Guardian-led investigation which shows the NHS is facing a £27bn bill for maternity failings in England.
Legal actions against NHS trusts that have seen hundreds of women and babies die in maternity units have escalated. A national inquiry, which is led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, has already been launched by the government, however a new investigation from The Guardian reveals the NHS is now facing a massive bill.
To conduct the research, experts analysed NHS figures which revealed the potential bill for maternity negligence in England since 2019 has hit £27.4bn.
Researchers found the bill is worth more than the health service’s entire maternity budget for the period.
Echoing a similar bleak tone, figures released through the Freedom of Information Act show the number of families pursuing legal action against the NHS rose to a record of almost 1,400 in 2023 – double the figure seen in 2007.
Commenting on the investigation, Jane Williams, clinical negligence partner at the law firm Freeths, said the need for intervention is greater than ever.
Speaking to Social Care Today, she explained: ‘The most effective way to reduce claims is to avoid causing unnecessary harm in the first place. Cultural change within the NHS is urgently needed with an emphasis on learning, collaboration and improving clinical practice. This would lead to a reduction in the number of claims and costs not to mention preventing families from suffering avoidable harm and trauma that is being highlighted almost daily.
‘There have been numerous inquiries and reviews all highlighting the same recurring issues and systematic failings in our maternity care. It is now time for the recommendations to be implemented and patient safety and learning to be a priority and this will in turn reduce the number of claims.’
To give further context into England’s flawed maternity care, between 2022 and 2024 the Care Quality Commission inspected 131 NHS maternity units and deemed two-thirds of them as either ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’.
Off the back of the recent findings, which can be found in full here, a spokesperson from NHS England said: ‘We recognise that too many women and families are not receiving the high-quality maternity care they deserve, and we are committed to changing this.’
Photo by Patricia Prudente via UnSplash
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