Shrewsbury maternity sandal prompts midwife recruitment drive

In response to the maternity scandal at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, it is understood that around 80 obstetrics consultants and up to 1,000 midwives are to be recruited in a new £100m funding commitment aimed at improving maternity safety in England.

In an initial report published last year, Donna Ockenden, the midwife leading the review, recommended that maternity units throughout England undertake what she termed seven “immediate and essential” actions.

These included listening property to the views of women and their families, making sure consultants and midwives train together, and better investigations when things go wrong, ensuring that lessons were learned across the regional NHS system.

Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, called the new investment “a significant boost for our under-resourced and under-staffed maternity services.

“Now we must all work together to use this money to have an impact on direct front-line care as quickly as possible, so that we have the right numbers of staff, with the right tr4aining, in the right place.”

Dr Edward Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the report into the maternity scandal had been “a wake-up call for the system.”

He added “We look forward to working closely with the government to ensure every penny of this funding is spent in the best way it can be.”

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 a 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