Scheduled review of newborn health care
Posted: August 21, 2015
Posted in: Birth Injury Medical Negligence Wrongful & Accidental Death
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced that it will be carrying out a review of the health care available to newborn and young babies with severe health problems. Where incidents in the past have tainted the reputation of newborn health care, such as the case of Elizabeth Dixon who died fourteen years ago after a breathing tube was not inserted properly, the CQC says that it wants to carry out a series of inspections to identify the barriers that are preventing the NHS from providing ‘outstanding’ care.
The report is due to be published in March 2016, and may outline a number of new care guidelines. The inspections will be carried out across around 20 neonatal services in England, looking at the care of babies born prematurely and those requiring treatment in hospital after birth. The services will involve both those inside and outside of hospitals.
Particular attention to babies with breathing tubes
Inspectors have been told to analyse how well staff can identify problems that develop during pregnancy and how these problems are then dealt with. The commission wants to pay particular attention to the care of babies who require breathing tubes, following the death of Elizabeth Dixon because of tracheostomy care failings.
Prof Edward Baker, deputy chief inspector of hospitals at the CQC, said: “Everyone has the right to care which is safe and effective but we know from our inspections of maternity services there is a marked difference in the quality of the care provided.”
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