Poor care in Swansea Bay maternity services laid bare

Women reported feeling like their maternity experience at Swansea Bay University Health Board was like a “conveyor belt” where their individual needs were overlooked, and more than half said they did not feel involved in decisions about their care.

The report, from patient advocacy group Llias, also laid bare some of the hugely traumatic experiences some women experienced in the Health Board’s hospitals – Singleton Hospital and Neath Port Talbot Hospital Birth Centre – with one saying she felt like a “slab of meat left on the bed”.

There was “no sense of urgency and no kindness” in the care being delivered, the report stated, quoting many distressing examples of bad experiences for parents in the Health Board’s maternity services.

Women not being listened to was identified as a “consistent and deeply concerning” theme identified by the Llias, with 43 per cent saying they did not feel their fears or concerns were acted upon. The report said women frequently felt “brushed off” and “made to feel like they were overreacting….leaving them feeling confused and undermined”.

Furthermore, Llias identified a lack of joined-up care, where staff did not communicate with each other and often did not give clear advice to patients, leading to confusion for new and expectant mothers around which advice to follow.

The Health Board responded by saying it was implementing improvements in a number of areas of its maternity services.

Slater and Gordon works extensively in supporting women impacted by maternity failings across Wales, England and Scotland, and is a passionate advocate for the need for improvement.

“This report makes for shocking reading – the fact that more than three quarters of women are having a negative experience of giving birth in Swansea Bay’s hospitals is devastating and absolutely unacceptable,” says Kelly Lloyd Davies, principal lawyer in clinical negligence in Cardiff.

“The same themes come up time and again in maternity services of women not being listened to and their concerns not taken seriously – and this can have the most tragic of consequences. A lack of kindness in the care being delivered is also highlighted, which really should be one of the most basic things a new or expectant mother should expect.

“Our team regularly hears and see first-hand the horrendous impact that poor care from maternity services can have on women and whole families, and this must not be allowed to continue. There is a need for urgent improvements in Swansea Bay so that more women who depend on these NHS services for the care of them and their babies are not being let down.”