East Kent maternity deaths: New mum recalls horror of birth

Philippa Chapman said staff refused to clean her bed after she had given birth at the William Harvey hospital in Ashford, Kent, in March last year.

She said the birth was “horrendous”, and she would not return to the unit as she would fear for her life.

The trust apologised to Mrs Chapman and for its wider failings.

Mrs Chapman recalled her harrowing ordeal after it emerged that health inspectors considered shutting down the William Harvey’s maternity unit earlier this year over safety concerns.

The Care Quality Commission instead called for “immediate improvements” following a visit.

The watchdog’s inspection came weeks after a review in October found at least 45 babies might have survived at the two hospitals run by the East Kent Hospitals Trust.

‘It was horrific’

After Mrs Chapman went into labour, she asked for an epidural, but was told there were no staff around to help her.

She said she was told she would need to “wait until either your life is in danger or his (her son) life is in danger before we can bump you up the queue. It was horrific”.

Her son, Ambrose, was born hours later after an episiotomy. But shortly after his birth, he developed jaundice and both mother and baby had to stay in the William Harvey for five days.

However, Mrs Chapman was left in blood-stained sheets for three days, despite asking for clean bedding.

“I was still in the sheets that they’d done the episiotomy on,” she said.

The inspection of East Kent’s William Harvey hospital laid bare multiple instances of inadequate practices at the unit, including staff failing to wash their hands after each patient, and life-saving equipment not being in the right place.

Days after the visit, the watchdog raised safety concerns and threatened the trust with enforcement action to ensure patients are protected.

Helen Gittos, whose newborn daughter died in the care of the East Kent Hospitals Trust, said there were “fundamental” problems at the trust.

Ms Gittos, whose baby Harriet was born at the East Kent trust’s Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in 2014 and died eight days later, said: “When my daughter Harriet was born, the then head of midwifery was so concerned about safety that she thought that the William Harvey in particular should be closed down.”

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Here we are, almost nine years later, in a similar kind of situation. What has been happening has not worked.”

The inspectors’ key findings included:

• At the William Harvey hospital, inspectors found bloodstains on toilets
• In day care and triage, inspectors “routinely” saw staff did not always clean their hands or use aprons and gloves while delivering care
• Resuscitaires were not available in the right place, nor were they cleaned and checked regularly
• Staff at the hospital did not always ensure a second opinion was sought
• Staff morale was low across both hospitals
• At The QEQM, equality and diversity were not always promoted

After it was threatened with closure by the CQC, the trust promised to make immediate improvements to care. The CQC ultimately decided that weekly monitoring of its services would suffice.

The overall CQC rating for maternity services at both the William Harvey and The QEQM in Margate has dropped from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘inadequate’ following the inspection.

Deanna Westwood, the CQC’s director of operations south, said the watchdog has now used “urgent enforcement powers” to “require immediate improvements” at the trust. Read More