Senior midwife urges Government to tackle dangers of 24-hour shifts
The revelations come amid a number of inquiries into maternity care across the country, including one due to start later this year in Leeds.
A key “piece of the puzzle” to solve the maternity care crisis across the country is finally stopping on-call nurses working 24 to 36-hour shifts, a senior midwife has said.
Scottish midwife Leah Hazard said she felt compelled to act after hearing about the tragic case of mum Jennifer Cahill, 34, and her newborn daughter Agnes, who died after complications with homebirth in Manchester.
Ms Hazard said that, as well as the “numerous failings and missed opportunities, the coroner’s report revealed that the two community midwives had been “awake for more than 24 hours”.
The mum-of-two explained that she knows how it feels to work long shifts, overnight shifts and how it can “impact you cognitively, physiologically and your decision making”.
“Although we can’t demonstrate exhaustion played a significant part in the deaths of Jennifer and Agnes, it can’t have helped,” she added.
Ms Hazard found that while work shifts are supposed to be limited by the working time directive, in reality on-call midwives can be required for 36 hours.
She decided to launch a petition through Change.org, and in the process received messages from colleagues across the country talking about their fears on extended shifts.
Yesterday, Ms Hazard handed in a now 71,000-signature petition to Downing Street demanding legal limits on working hours for midwives in the UK.
“We’ve been ignored for too long, and the situation has now become so serious that we cannot stay silent,” she said.
It comes amid a number of inquiries into maternity care across the country, including one due to start later this year in Leeds.
A BBC investigation into the scandal revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is representing more than 30 families in action against the Leeds trust.
Ms Hazard said: “In Leeds, and in many other inquiries across the country, the focus has rightly been on bereavements, on losses and on harm to families.
“But we’re normalising excessive unsafe working and this is the piece of the puzzle that is missing from all of these inquiries and investigations.
“We have to look at what’s happening with the staff, and what their conditions are, as well as the harms being suffered by these families.”