Medical staff must “respect the patient” urges leading medical negligence lawyer at summit to challenge maternity care failings

Suzanne White, Leigh Day’s head of medical negligence, a former radiographer was part of a panel session at the event which set out to challenge repeated mistakes and failings in maternal and neonatal care.

From Impact to Insight was organised by Progress in Partnership, a collective of maternity and neonatal specialist organisations from across the country and sponsored by law firm Leigh Day, which has a specialist team of birth injury lawyers and midwives.

Secretary of state for health and social care, Wes Streeting, former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt and Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives were among the other speakers at the event.

Last month, the government announced a rapid national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services in England.

The health secretary acknowledged during a Q&A session that maternity care is in a “bad place” and that he has heard “truly shocking” stories from patients and their families.

Wes Streeting also highlighted that there are “outstanding examples of excellent care” and that it was vital to work with partners including the Royal College of Midwives because families are “counting on all of us to succeed”.

During a panel session, Leigh Day partner, Suzanne White said:

“After 25 years as a medical negligence lawyer, I am shocked and dismayed by the level of maternity cases still coming through. I would have hoped things would have improved through the lifetime of my career.

“Sadly, the same issues keep coming up again around patient autonomy and patient consent with women being ignored and dismissed.

“Medical professionals need to listen to their patients and respect them even if they don’t agree – autonomy and consent is the patient’s legal right.”

Progress in Partnership represents more than 200,000 employees across maternity and neonatal services, with the goal to improve the quality of care provided to women and families.

It was setup following the first UK inquiry into birth trauma last year, and is comprised of:

• Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
• Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
• Royal College of General Practitioners
• Royal College of Anaesthetists
• Institute of Health Visiting
• Society and College of Radiographers
• Neonatal Nurses Association (NNA)
• Royal College of Midwives