MPs told poor training and bullying on NHS maternity units a risk to safety

MPs have been told that midwives and doctors working in maternity services face higher levels of bullying than in any other part of the NHS.

According the General Medical Council, trainee doctors in maternity services experience more than twice the level of bullying seen throughout the rest of the NHS, while the Nursing and Midwifery Council reported that midwives were also more likely to be bullied.

The Commons health select committee were informed that the culture in some maternity units was a major barrier to tackling poor care and improving safety. MPs were also warned the lack of adequately funded training was forcing some midwives to pay out of their own pockets.

The inquiry was launched last year following repeated maternity scandals at East Kent Hospitals University Trust and the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust.

Giving evidence to the committee, chief executive of the GMC Charlie Massey, said “We do see in our data some quite troubling data around bullying.

“If you are an obstetrics or gynaecology trainee, we see in our national training survey each year that some 14 per cent report that they have experienced bullying – and that’s against an average for all trainees of 6 per cent. You see more than double the rate of bullying in obstetrics and gynaecology than you do elsewhere.”

Chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council Andrea Sutcliffe, added “We also see that student midwives are more likely to experience or witness bullying behaviours.

“Blame culture does exist, and it’s harmful. It’s harmful because people feel that they’re not able to speak up, they don’t learn from things that go wrong, they don’t listen to women and their families, and failures continue to happen, and system failures are potentially endeic, if that’s not addressed.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s team of medical negligence lawyers have years of experience in high value and complex medical negligence compensation claims and have an excellent record. The team is led by Tony May, a specialist cerebral palsy and birth injury solicitor, who has over 20 years experience in handling cases in which babies have been brain damaged or sustained other injuries as a result of medical negligence. He and his team continue to represent many cerebral palsy children and young adults in medical negligence claims. Tony also acts as the Court of Protection Deputy for many of the cerebral palsy and brain damaged clients that he has represented, so we can continue to support you after your case is settled. Tony can be contacted by email on tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk. Alternatively, please call and speak to any of Chadwick Lawrence’s specialist medical negligence Legal Aid and no win, no fee solicitors for free legal advice on Freephone 0800 304 7382.