Safer National Maternity Care: Prospects and Challenges

The delivery of safe maternity care has become an increasing focus of attention, especially in recent years due to high-profile serious failings in care at individual NHS trusts. 1, 2 Preventable tragic adverse events in maternity care have devastating consequences for families, and the associated negligence claims create huge costs for the NHS. 4 Reducing harm in maternity care is a major priority to protect families and NHS sustainability. 5 Much work to date has focused on identifying what goes wrong in maternity care. Much has been learned from inquiries and investigations into adverse events in maternity care. 1, 35 However, the resulting recommendations have not, as in other areas of quality and safety, always had impacts that are as powerful or consistent as might be hoped. 21 This review article takes a fresh and positive perspective and shares learning on the key findings of the recent national maternal enquiries and investigations reports into adverse events in the care given to some mothers and babies. 5, 6 It makes the case for universal implementation of specific key measures in order to improve the quality of maternity care and its safety profile. 35