MP 'treated with disdain' by 'toxic' maternity unit

The government's first national maternity adviser said she was "treated with disdain" as she went into labour at the trust at the centre of the largest maternity review in NHS history.

Sherwood Forest MP Michelle Welsh said she was told, "you don't know what you're talking about" as she was a first-time mother and was delayed having her son in a required Caesarean section at Nottingham City Hospital in 2020.

Welsh spoke after the release of the Ockenden Maternity Review which found more than 500 mothers and babies suffered avoidable harm or died due to failings at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.

She said: "I was treated with disdain, it was horrific the way they spoke to me."

Welsh said she had a Caesarean section planned on 5 April 2020, but began contractions on 26 March.

She told the BBC's Sunday Politics East Midlands: "I had a concave womb which meant it was not quite shaped right.

"So it was decided very early on in my pregnancy that the safest birth and the only birth where me and my son could be safe was was a Caesarean section.

"One was booked in but my son Billy had different ideas."

But she said she was treated "with disdain" when she contacted the hospital.

She said: "I phoned into the maternity department and they were very dismissive telling me, 'I was a first-time mother and I didn't know what I was talking about'.

"This continued, the contractions continued and the pain intensified.

"Three phone calls later, I was begging the midwife to check my files because my consultant had been very clear if labour starts then phone them up so they could find me a bed to go straight in.

"She told me, 'I don't have time to check your file - I am telling you categorically you do not need to come into the hospital, don't phone us again until you're absolutely ready'."

An hour later, Welsh said her waters had broken and rushed to hospital.

"It was horrific the way they spoke to me," she said. "They couldn't find a heart machine that was working, they couldn't find my son's heartbeat - he was clearly in distress.

"I had an internal examination without any pain relief or consent.

"The consultant then said to me she didn't want to do another C-section and that she would wait until 9am.

"It was clear there was a serious issue going on and that would have been five hours later.

"If by chance and if by luck, a senior midwife came in with some experience, she buzzed for an emergency three or four times, nobody came.

"She managed to get an obstetrician who didn't want to come in and very begrudgingly did so and she admitted there was an emergency."

Welsh said she was finally taken for an emergency C-section but people there still "did not talk to her" and she "didn't know what was going on".

"I was desperately trying to look and find my baby," she said. "He wasn't born as he should have been, he wasn't born breathing.

"Luckily, he was okay but before I left the hospital, I was on the ward, it was horrendous, they made fun of me."

Welsh's experience was just one of thousands of testimonies given to Donna Ockenden's review into Nottingham's maternity services - the largest in NHS history - which found widespread failings affecting hundreds of families.

The review, which began in September 2022, heard evidence from about 2,500 parents and 800 staff, and its findings were published in June this year.

It concluded there were "deeply embedded systemic failures", with about 520 cases of avoidable harm and outcomes potentially altered for about 260 babies, including many deaths and serious injuries.

It highlighted persistent clinical problems, such as poor monitoring and missed signs of distress, alongside a "toxic" workplace culture where staff felt unable to raise concerns and families' worries were often dismissed.

Some families have called for a full public inquiry and police investigations continue into potential criminal failings.

In response, the trust has apologised and must implement urgent reforms under external oversight.

Anthony May, the chief executive of the trust, called the review's publication a "watershed moment" and said it was important to have oversight of its findings.

He said: "We are committed to a comprehensive and sustained response to every action."

The trust added that Welsh had agreed to chair the new Learning and Improvement Board at NUH.

It said the board's terms of reference would be developed with families, staff and stakeholders and a first meeting would take place later in the year.

May added: "Two years ago, we made a public commitment to ensure continued scrutiny of our maternity services, and this board is a key part of delivering on that promise.

"In the coming weeks, we will publish a detailed action plan setting out how every action will be addressed, with clear timescales and named accountability.

"We will continue to involve families and staff in shaping our response, and in holding us to account.

"We will work closely with the Learning and Improvement Board, NHS England, our regulators, commissioners, local families, partners and maternity experts to ensure improvements are delivered and sustained."

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