Staggering figure about the cost of maternity care

[RedToothBrush]

Next time someone says about maternity that we can't afford more midwives, better facilities or women to have ELCS or homebirths please direct them here and reflect on what this actually means:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-24856772

The NHS spends nearly £700 on clinical negligence cover for every live birth in England, a report says.

The review by the National Audit Office said last year this cost nearly £500m - almost a fifth of all spending on maternity.

Public Accounts Committee chairwoman Margaret Hodge said the figure was "absolutely scandalous".

Most definitely food for thought...

Less staff, more problems, more claims for damages, higher insurance costs. Can't believe this figure though. Perhaps everyone should accept the recommended birth method by the professionals and waive their right to compensation if there is a problem! Just throwing that in.......

Yes I heard this on the radio this morning, I was staggered.

Also shows just how many claims are going on too, isn't that worrying, so much is going wrong....

That's not the only troublesome finding in the NAO report. Too few midwives, poorer outcomes for babies delivered at weekends, 28% of mat units turning away women due to various capacity issues between Aprl and Sep in 2012. Much to be concerned about and lots of room for improvement.

I'm just reading the full report atm. Some interesting stuff in it. Worth a read for anyone interested in the study.

www.nao.org.uk/report/maternity-services-england/

Just picking out one interesting point, given the threads on the subject of being refused pain relief on Mumsnet, which have have provoked hundreds of posts.

Twelve per cent of obstetric units did not comply with the Royal Colleges’ recommendation that all units should have at least one full-time equivalent consultant anaesthetist, compared with 7 per cent in March 2007.

Bare in mind that the report is written in the context of a document called Maternity Matters in 2007:

The Department of Health outlined its strategy for maternity services in 2007 in Maternity Matters. It intended to achieve its aims by: offering choice in where and how women have their baby; providing continuity of care; and ensuring an integrated service through networks and agreed care pathways.

^The Department's main aims for maternity services are:
to improve performance against quality and safety indicators;^
for mothers to report a good experience;
to encourage normality in births by reducing unnecessary interventions;
to promote public health with a focus on reducing inequalities; and
to improve diagnosis and services for women with pregnancy-related mental health problems.

I was in uch today at the maternal and foetal assessment unit. There was one midwife to assess all the patients, and she was also doubling as a triage midwife for women waiting to get on to the labour ward. In addition, for part of the time that I was there she was covering for the receptionist. She was doing a brilliant job, but needed help from another midwife.

Do they actually insure though or is that a nominal figure? I thought government was all self insured. That used to be the case but I'm 10 years out of date