A mother has told how she was left alone without a midwife for most of her labour at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, in what she describes as a “traumatising” experience.
Eleanor Costello, who now has a healthy 18-month-old son, said she was left in a side room until the final moments of her delivery, despite repeatedly calling for help.
Her account comes as inspectors raised “serious concerns” with NHS Lothian and the Scottish Government following an unannounced inspection at one of Scotland’s largest maternity units.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) said staff at Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary’s maternity unit spoke about an “overwhelming feeling of helplessness, frustration and worry for not only patient, but staff safety”.
Inspectors reported a “suboptimal skill mix” and low staffing levels, which they said led to “challenges in providing and maintaining one-to-one care for women within the labour ward”.
A review of incident reports also found “evidence of medication errors involving student midwives”.
The Scottish Government has escalated its support and scrutiny of NHS Lothian maternity services in light of the “serious concerns”.
STV News‘I missed precious first moments with my baby’
Eleanor believes inadequate staffing was at the root of her experience.
“I went into labour at 36 weeks, so it was a premature birth. It was the Easter weekend,” she told STV News.
“I had my mum with me, I had my husband with me, but I didn’t have a midwife. I very quickly started screaming in pain.”
Eleanor’s husband and mother repeatedly went looking for help in the corridor before a midwife eventually came to give her gas and air.
“She basically handed it to me and went to leave the room. I wasn’t shown how to use it. I was saying, ‘It’s empty, it’s not doing anything,’ but she told me to keep breathing and walked out,” Eleanor said.
“A few minutes later, I vomited and felt really unwell. When another midwife came in, she looked at the equipment and said, ‘It’s empty – you’ve been given an empty canister.’
“I’d been sucking on something with no air, no oxygen.”
STV NewsEleanor was later moved to the labour ward in the middle of delivery, and the staff had “no idea” how long she had been pushing for.
“When the baby was delivered, it came out in one movement and almost fell on the floor because there was no midwife near me,” she explained.
“I had a 3c degree tear, one of the worst you can get, and had to be rushed into emergency surgery. I should have been with my baby, but I was in surgery.
“Afterwards, no one really spoke to me about what happened.”
Eleanor lodged a formal complaint with the hospital, but said she was “shocked” by the response.
“I told them I thought the problems I faced were because there weren’t enough staff,” she said. “They told me they did have enough staff – there were just too many patients.
“So it was the patients’ fault that there were too many of us? They wouldn’t admit they didn’t have enough staff.”
She added: “It doesn’t matter if you’re in a hospital — if you’re in a room on your own and no one’s checking on you, you’re not safe. I thought I was safe, but I wasn’t.”
An NHS Lothian spokesperson said they were aware of the HIS inspection and were working closely with the regulator to address the concerns raised.
Scottish health secretary Neil Gray told MSPs that he was “deeply disappointed and concerned by the findings in the report”.
He said the Government has escalated NHS Lothian maternity services to level three of the NHS support and intervention framework to set things right.
“We are taking these concerns extremely seriously, and I expect NHS Lothian to act immediately to implement all 26 requirements from the report,” Gray said.
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