Maternity services shake-up after review

URGENT changes have been made to maternity services at the Royal Oldham Hospital after a review into the deaths of babies and mothers.

The external review, which invesgigaed the deaths of seven babies and three mothers at the hospital and at North Manchester General between January 2013 and 2014, found “notable absence of clinical leadership” and a lack of care planning.

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs both hospitals, repeated its apologies to families after the review, conducted by a senior midwife and obstetrician outside the trust, was released.

Gill Harris, the trust’s chief nurse, said: “The board has repeated sincere apologies for the failings in care identified.

She said the review found the mothers’ deaths didn’t stem from a lack of care, but improvement is need in neonatal practices. She said the deaths came in the context of a trust handling10,000 births a year.

The review found the cases of three women classed as obese weren’t managed in line with local or national guidance.

A £1million improvement plan has been implemented to answer 12 recommendations made in the report.. This includes hiring around 40 new healthcare assistants



DOCTORS and midwives at the Royal Oldham Hospital will be working with a national organisation on a programme to help reduce stillbirth and early neonatal deaths in the region.


Staff at maternity units across the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust will work with the Perinatal Institute on the scheme, which will attempt to improve the detection and management of babies who are smaller than expected.

The institute was set up to improve the quality and safety of maternity care to counter high rates of stillbirths. Its work led to the first reduction in stillbirths in England for 20 years.