Greater Manchester hospital trusts pay out almost £6 million for injuries to mums and babies

Three hospital trusts in Greater Manchester have paid out almost £6 million in compensation for injuries suffered by mothers and babies during birth in the last two years. One Greater Manchester hospital trust paid out £3.8 million in birth injury compensation in the past two years alone - while another trust has also paid more than a million in damages in the same timeframe.

Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Tameside Hospital, has paid out £3,802,500 in compensation for birth injury claims from November 2021 to November 2023, data from a Freedom of Information request (FOI) seen by the M.E.N has shown. The birth injury rate at the trust during that period was 394 injuries per 1,000 deliveries.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WWL), which operates the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, has paid out £1,560,000 from November 2021 to November 2023 to patients who had suffered injuries while giving birth under the trust’s maternity care, according to an FOI.

Data also revealed that a total of 149 perineal (vaginal) tears were suffered by mothers following childbirth at the trust. Of those, 58 were first degree, 81 were second degree and 10 were third degree tears. Around 30 women suffered pelvic fractures, including fractures to the public bone, coccyx or sacrum.

Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal Bolton Hospital, paid out £620,178 in total for birth injuries from November 2021 to November 2023. Of this total, £191,500 was paid in damages for injuries to babies, while £428,678 was paid out for injuries to mums.

Tameside and Glossop Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust and Bolton NHS Foundation Trust both declined to comment. A spokesperson for WWL said: “The safety and care for our patients is the trust’s number one priority and we pride ourselves on our high standards, compassion and understanding within our maternity services.

"Whilst we are not able to comment on individual cases, our priority when incidents do occur, is to conduct a thorough, open, and transparent investigation with our patients and their families to support and identify any lessons that we can learn to improve the care we deliver.

“For those incidents, the Trust has accepted responsibility and apologises to the patients involved for the distress and injury caused. The figures were drawn form a Freedom of Information (FOI) response issued by the trust.

"However, due to human error, there were inaccuracies with the data provided.”

The M.E.N. has requested an explanation of the 'inaccuracies' the trust says were contained in it's own response to the FOI. The M.E.N. has also asked the trust for figures removing the 'inaccuracies' which WWL claims it made.

However, the trust has not provided that information.

Dr Manisha Kumar is chief medical officer at NHS Greater Manchester, which oversees all the hospital trusts in the region. The doctor said: “The safety and wellbeing of all mothers giving birth is of the utmost importance. We are constantly working with our trusts and partners to ensure our maternity system in Greater Manchester is safe and supporting them to identify and implement improvements.”

The data follows the launch of the first-ever UK parliamentary committee into birth trauma this year, amid claims of ‘shockingly poor care’ being common in the NHS.

Conservative MP, Theo Clarke is co-chair of the cross-parliamentary committee alongside Labour MP, Rosie Duffield. The first hearing is set for February 5, with findings due to be published in April.

In the House of Commons last week, Ms Clarke spoke of how the issue of birth trauma is ‘a real taboo’. The MP recounted her own birthing horror after having to undergo emergency surgery for a serious third degree tear while giving birth to her daughter after a 40-hour labour.

The Birth Trauma Association is a supporter and contributor to the committee and says there have been many tales of ‘shockingly poor care’ within maternity units of the NHS. The association’s CEO, Kim Thomas, said: “We know from what women tell us that experiences of shockingly poor care are also common in the NHS.

“But these women find that they are rarely listened to – often complaints to hospitals are met with attempts to minimise the woman’s trauma and deny responsibility.”

According to NHS Resolution, ‘maternity claims represent the highest value and second highest number of clinical negligence claims’. Birth injuries are often traumatic, requiring mothers to undergo emergency surgeries and long-term recovery all while caring for a newborn.

The British Trauma Association leader continued: “Birth trauma wasn’t talked about at all until relatively recently. Many women tell us they were completely unaware of, for example, the possibility of sustaining injuries as a result of birth. We think this is partly because there is a widespread attitude that we shouldn’t make pregnant women feel frightened of labour, but also because there is a tendency to trivialise and ignore women’s health problems.

“When women do develop trauma symptoms after birth, they are often told by others to ‘move on’ and to feel grateful that they have a healthy baby.”

First-degree tears are small and skin-deep. Second-degree tears are deeper and affect the muscle of your perineum. Third-degree tears also involve the muscle that controls the anus, according to NHS inform.

“At the moment, a lot of birth injuries go undiagnosed, causing serious problems,” says Ms Thomas. A third or fourth degree tear, also known as an anal sphincter tear, can be repaired if diagnosed early enough, but if left untreated, it can leave women with lifelong faecal incontinence, which can be very distressing.”

She added: “At the Birth Trauma Association, we hear a lot of stories of birth injuries caused by medical negligence. However, many women never receive compensation for these injuries. Contrary to public perception, suing the NHS can be very hard.”

The Freedom of Information data was gathered by Legalexpert.co.uk, which offers specialist advice and support to mothers regarding birth injuries claims. The group operates a 24-hour helpline and live chat service which you can access on the linked website.