Lack of compassion and sensitivity for couple whose baby had died

What happened

Miss K was reaching the latter stages of her pregnancy when she started to suffer from breathlessness. She visited the maternity unit at the Trust and the midwives arranged an ultrasound scan and blood tests. Following this, doctors diagnosed a complication in the pregnancy.

Two weeks later Miss K told her midwife she was worried that the baby was not moving as much as before. The midwife did some basic checks and advised Miss K to contact the hospital if she had any further concerns. The next day she went to the hospital and told the midwife that she had felt the baby moving a lot during the night but since then the movements had reduced. The midwife could not find the baby's heartbeat and arranged for a scan. The scan confirmed that Miss K's baby had died.

Miss K did not want to stay in hospital and went home. A consultant gave her medication to help induce labour so that the baby could be delivered, and asked her to return to hospital the next morning. Miss K went back to hospital with a friend but there were no signs that labour was starting. Midwives gave Miss K further labour inducing medication and during the day gave her pain relieving medication when she was distressed and uncomfortable.

However, Miss K complained that there had been delays in midwives giving pain relief and midwives were only with her from time to time when she was in labour.

Miss K and Mr N said following their child's death, the midwives did not deal with them sensitively.

What we found

There were no failings in care up until Miss K reported reduced movements to her midwife. We found that at that point the midwife should have sent her to hospital for a scan. We were unable to establish what the scan would have shown and so we could not say that the baby would have been delivered safely at that point.

However, there was a possibility that it could have highlighted concerns that would have led doctors to deliver the baby. We said the couple were left not knowing whether their baby would have survived if appropriate action had been taken.

We also found failings during labour. Miss K was left alone on several occasions by hospital staff because they were busy elsewhere. We found that Miss K was in pain and left alone to deliver her baby and that midwives did not give her the support she needed. Staff treated Miss K and Mr N with a lack of compassion and sensitivity after the baby had died. There were several incidents where the actions of staff made the couple's distress worse.

Putting it right

The Trust accepted our recommendations and apologised for its failings. It paid the couple £3,000 in recognition of the distress caused. The Trust also produced an action plan to make sure that it had learned from the complaint.