Compensation for birth injuries scheme announced

Published on: 17/10/2016

A new compensation scheme for babies harmed during birth has been announced by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today.

The scheme comes as part of a package of initiatives with the objective of meeting the Governments aim to half stillbirth and neonatal deaths by 50% by 2030.

The scheme, applicable to those in England, is designed to provide a swift method to resolve complaints and aid staff to learn from any mistakes made. The changes are hoped to lead to less of a ‘blame culture’ within maternity services, meaning that staff would feel more able to speak up when mistakes happen. Hunt also hopes that it will significantly reduce the current 11 year wait that some families face for a court settlement.

This new ‘Rapid Resolution and Redress’ scheme is voluntary meaning that parents will still be able to take cases to court should they wish. It is expected that 500 cases per year will be reviewed following cases of avoidable harm to babies during birth each year in England.

The announcement came amid other changes, including:

— £8million fund for training

— £250,000 Maternity Safety Innovation fund for pilot schemes to improve maternity services

— Maternity safety rates for individual NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups to improve transparency and raise standards

— National quality improvement program for all maternity units

— Perinatal Mortality Review Tool to create standardised investigations of every stillbirth and neonatal death to ensure that lessons are learnt

— The launch of ‘Our Chance’ – a online public awareness campaign partnership between SANDS and Best Beginnings to empower parents with knowledge and information

Jeremy Hunt, said that NHS Maternity staff “did a fantastic job under huge pressure” but recognised that “even though we have made much progress, our stillbirth rates are still amongst the highest in Western Europe”. He noted that “Many on the frontline say that there is still too much of a blame culture when things go wrong – often caused by fear of litigation or worry about damage to reputation and careers.”

Clea Harmer, CEO of SANDS, welcomed the announcements : “We welcome the government’s renewed commitment to improving maternity safety to save babies’ lives. We’re delighted that the importance of a clear national strategy for a sustained reduction in deaths has been recognised, and resources have been committed to achieve this. It is vital that Trusts are properly supported to implement the measures outlined today.

“We pay tribute to the parents across the country who, by speaking out about their personal experience of bereavement, have helped us raise awareness that much more can and should be done. Their voices must continue to be heard as these new measures are rolled out.”

Read the full article here.