Shortage of childbirth pain relief announced

[BestZebbie]

(Posting to Chat as I couldn't find this topic anywhere on the boards already and there doesn't seem to be a general "birth" topic).

"The NHS has been hit by a shortage of epidural kits to give mothers-to-be, a key form of pain relief during childbirth, as well as the drug that women are offered as an alternative.

Supplies of epidural kits and the painkiller Remifentanil are now under such pressure that some hospitals cannot offer pregnant women their usual right to choose which one they want to reduce labour pains.

Anaesthetists have told the Guardian that the simultaneous shortage of both forms of pain management has led to “difficult discussions” with women who had been told during their antenatal care that they would have that choice but were upset to learn that it was not available."

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/07/difficult-discussions-as-nhs-faces-shortage-of-childbirth-pain-relief

@sidge Harsh. Too harsh.

Women do get let down by medical professionals sometimes.

And the lack of epidurals will be terrifying for a lot of Mums to be.

So your vitriol seems misplaced.

They do, and it is, but I wish people would stop inflaming these sorts of issues. Not everything is misogyny, or medical manipulation.

Viewing everything through a lens of conspiracy and misinformation is dangerous and actually exacerbates fear.

The list of unavailable medications runs to pages and pages. It’s not medics sitting in an office going right well we won’t give them that, or that, or that because they’re women.

Well I’m pregnant and each time I’ve raised concerns about managing labour with my other health issues, the midwives seem to try to put me off a c-section and recommend an epidural instead. So this is petrifying.

I wonder if the supplies that remain will be prioritised for c-section ladies with women labouring naturally left without the option.

My midwife told me last year that due to staff shortages I'd be unlikely to get an epidural on a weekend. Then tried to book me in for an induction on a Friday afternoon...I said nope I'll go for Monday instead thanks.

As it was, I went into labour spontaneously at night but staff shortages meant I couldn't have the birthing pool which was my 1st choice pain relief. An epidural was my back up and I was so grateful to get it.
It will obviously be worrying that between drug, kit and staff shortages a lot of the standard options for pain relief may be unavailable. Childbirth is already unpredictable and daunting enough.

You have to be very careful to plan your birth with an expectation of having an epidural even if there aren’t shortages of supply. Babies don’t always follow your birth plan and the relevant staff aren’t always available. Hopefully, it will be possible to have one if you want one but accept it may not.

My birth plan went completely out the window with DS. Didn’t end up giving birth in MLU with water birth, had to go to another hospital 30 miles away at 3am, and had a retained placenta removed manually with only gas and air for pain relief. I’ve had easier days!

I'm sure there's plenty of pain relief for vasectomies and other male operations though.

Do you think all operations for women are done with no pain relief @LearnedAxolotl Do you think this shortage is designed by men? Do you think there are no women who work in the industries making these supplies?

No, because women having a CS can almost always have a spinal rather than epidural, and there's no shortage with those - you don't need the special blue syringe for a spinal.

You and me both one paracetamol which I threw up almost immediately, the gas and air was broken I was not impressed luckily it was my third so I knew it would end eventually.

For a first baby you need more. Lack of staff would be my guess

Well, a vasectomy only needs a bit of local anaesthetic, so yes, they can still be done. But that's really not a fair comparison. Patients of both sexes are missing out as a result of both the epidural and remifentanil shortages. This isn't some misogynistic conspiracy. Just a really shit situation.

@justasking111
You and me both one paracetamol which I threw up almost immediately, the gas and air was broken I was not impressed luckily it was my third so I knew it would end eventually.

For a first baby you need more. Lack of staff would be my guess

Yes we were geeeted on arrival with those words still ringing about my mind at times "we are overloaded here tonight and there's a long wait"
Yes gas and air broke in first 20 minutes .
I also waited over 4 hours (mid heatwave abd not permitted water) following the birth which involved a ventoyse , 3rd degree tear to be stitched up for the episiotomy as the aneasthatist was delayed.
I ended up discharging myself as soon as I could walk.

And yes woeful lack of staff (all agency which was later identified as a key "issue that should not have happened" .

I still can't believe I came out of there alive.

Make more!

It's a different type of epidural x as someone having an elcs I was quick to check lol

This was one of my biggest fears. They wanted to induce me on Easter Bank Holiday weekend. I refused and said no I'll be having an ELCS. I know how many anaesthetists are on shift (1!)

Why?

ITT, people who don't realise there are huge supply chain issues globally on multiple products. Also, the patriarchy, because making women suffer more makes 'em hard.

I can't wait for this winter when we get rolling blackouts because of men and also why they can't just "make more power". Like, duh.

They'll be knocking women out like they did in the olden days then. Separating babies from their mothers, both groggy and reducing the chances of establishing breastfeeding.
After 9 months of telling mother's that their bodies will likely fail them, the system will fail them entirely.
Sadly in 2020 most women who birthed did so without anyone and this increased the amount of emergency cesarean. The trauma women faced has meant life-long fear of birthing without intervention.

Now, now. I don't think we'll be going back to the distant dark ages of checks notes the 1970s.

Do the syringes have to be blue? If there's no blue dye, couldn't they temporarily be another colour, rather than just not making as many/any because there isn't enough blue dye?

I understand they need to be visibly different so it's obvious which ones they are. But there doesn't seem to be any obvious reason they have to be blue, per se. Is there? (It's late, so this might be a stupid thought. But I've been wondering since I read an article about this yesterday, and maybe someone here knows the answer!)

Doesn’t surprise me at all. There have been enormous issues with NHS equipment, drugs and supplies for the last 2 years and no signs of improvements. Not as important as this shortage obviously but yesterday I was giving patients plastic drinking cups to use for a urine sample as the bottles we normally use are completely out of stock.

It's not just that dye. It's the actual catheters and tubing for the delivery pumps. The Canadians have also issued a similar warning of shortages.

In 2017, a hurricane hit Puerto Rico and caused extensive infrastructure damage. The problem with this, for everyone not in the island nation, was that the country is home to 95% of all medical saline production on the planet. This impact was felt for 100 or so days as global supplies dried up and caused rationing for what is ultimately just salt water.

People need to realise how horribly interconnected and lacking in resilience our global economy is. If COVID didn't make this self-evident, I'm sure the coming energy crisis issues most certainly will when industries shutdown due to costs and lack of energy to keep going.

Meanwhile in medical research and development, we literally cannot get some solvents and materials with anything less than a 3 month lead time. And the costs are double their 2019 prices, at best.

Germany's BASF have warned they may have to forego manufacture of certain volumes of compounds as the Rhine water levels drop and stop barges delivering raw materials and shipping finished products out. The ongoing zero COVID paradigm in China has meant loads of industries having disrupted work schedules and logistics pains.

It's not just epidurals and it's not just the UK. My baby DS is ill with a fever and tends to vomit up calpol, trying to get suppositories for him is impossible - his paediatrician said even in the hospital they're like gold dust.

What the fuck?

I'm due to give birth alone and was relying on an epidural because I can't go through that pain by myself, and due to risk I can't even be in the birth centre. I've had an unmedicated birth once already (not by choice).

This is horrifying