Whistleblowers claim mothers and babies 'at risk' due to staff shortages at NHS Lothian maternity ward

Mothers and babies have been put at risk due to staff shortages at the maternity unit in Edinburgh, an investigation has found.

It follows concerns raised by whistleblowers over the triage and assessment unit at NHS Lothian, which deals with around 1,200 pregnant women a month who are in need of urgent care.

One midwife told STV News there have been high levels of burnout, absences and people leaving and blamed management for not listening to concerns.

An investigation launched earlier this year found there were staffing shortages and a toxic relationship between managers and midwives.

It found there have been adverse outcomes for women and babies.

One midwife, who spoke to STV News anonymously, said: “Management didn’t listen to staff concerns – we’d say we’re short staffed and they’d say it was fine.”

She added that “if staffing is down, you have more patients to care for and you can’t give the same care to a larger number of patients”.

Leah Hazard, an NHS midwife who has been campaigning for change and has written extensively about the profession, spoke with STV News about the report, which she said “sent chills down the spines” of midwives across Scotland.

Ms Hazard, who does not work at the hospital, said: “It’s incredibly concerning and that sadly is a story that I’ve heard echoed from midwives not just in Edinburgh but actually in many units across the country.

Concerns have been raised by staff about patient safety, lack of resources, and toxic workplace cultures for years, Ms Hazard said.

“It has taken quite a while for those concerns to really come to light in a productive way,” she told STV News.

“It actually is sadly apparently endemic across Scotland’s maternity services.

“It has a massive impact on patients, and that’s why staff in this instance have been brave and persistent enough to raise concerns and to whistleblow.

“Midwives go to work every day wanting to do their best, and we’re really lucky in this country that we are trained to give absolutely world-class, gold-standard care.

“But when we get to work and our hands are tied and we’re not able to give that care, we see safety suffering and its absolutely not what we want.”

NHS Lothian has said an improvement plan has been put in place designed to enhance patient safety and improve the working environment. However, Ms Hazard says more needs to be done at the government level to enact real change.

“I think its going to take a real commitment from the very top of the Scottish Government to prioritise the safety of people going through pregnancy and birth and to realise that pregnancy and birth are significant health events that actually have a massive, wider impact on public health as a whole,” she said.

“So we’re going to need a really water-tight improvement plan, we’re going to need some serious accountability and we’re going to need some real leadership as well, which I think is what midwives have been waiting for for years.

“I’ve been hearing today from midwives all around the country – they had chills down their spines reading this report today because the issues raised are incredibly familiar and apparently very widespread.

“So I don’t think this is the last we’ll be hearing of these kinds of concerns.

As well as the report, a separate review is taking place into the death of a mother at Edinburgh’s Maternity Unit in September. The health board has said it will share the findings of that with the family and if there are any recommendations made, they will be implemented.

Jim Crombie, deputy chief executive of NHS Lothian, said: “I extend our sincere condolences to the family involved in this tragic incident and I would reassure them that a detailed review is under way to give them much-needed answers and establish what happened.

“A Significant Adverse Event (SAE) panel, made up of a number of experts including three external clinicians, will carry out the careful review using the normal processes and the report will be shared directly with the family and the service to ensure that all necessary steps are taken.

“We need to wait on the outcome of the SAE and address any recommendations from that, as well as continuing to implement actions in relation to the whistleblowing concerns.

“We would reassure women that their health and the health of their baby is our paramount priority and we have taken a number of concrete actions to ensure we are providing safe care.

“Since concerns were raised, an improvement plan designed with staff to enhance patient safety, quality of care and improve the working environment and experience for our teams of dedicated staff is already underway.

“All aspects of patient care and workforce have been reviewed as well as staff working patterns, training and environment, as part of an open and transparent plan to work with teams.”