Mummy to Beatrice 🐝 (killed by NHS negligence) and Rosalie 🌷. Tweeting about #babyloss #maternitysafety #MaternityInquiry. Co-founder of @safe_maternity
Lostwithiel, England
Joined June 2009
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Beatrice Trudy Barley, my daughter, was born on 20th May 2022 at 9:38pm, weighing 8lbs 5oz. She had died a few hours earlier, during labour at Barnsley hospital.
Tomorrow is her funeral. I am in hell.
#babyloss #birthtrauma #maternity #stillbirth
Emily Barley retweeted
The coroner's conclusion for Olivia blows my mind: Kimberley attended hospital with severe abdominal pain & blood pressure so low she was close to cardiac arrest & rather than investigate they diagnosed her with trapped wind - yet nothing could have changed the outcome?? 🤯
The parents of a baby who died at five days old are launching a civil claim against the NHS trust which runs the hospital in Brighton where she died.
More here: bbc.in/4zX0Eml
I had my second baby by elective caesarean, largely because of anxiety for her safety.
...my first baby died during labour.
Is it 'anxiety' in the sense of over-worrying about a remote risk, or is it 'anxiety' in the sense of a real and present danger to life?
Emily Barley retweeted
Now, the DHSC is suppressing the MATREP evaluation while quietly citing it behind closed doors. Families relived our worst traumas in good faith for research that is being buried to protect institutional reputations.
Thank you to @emilyltownsend for shining a light on this.
Emily Barley retweeted
MNSI’s response in today’s HSJ article claims "sometimes people recall events differently".
Let's call that what it is: institutional gaslighting. In my case, part of my account was removed so the report wouldn't look like it was "taking a side."
Families such as @lexiebarrx and @alice_toppingx - who took part in the MATREP project - have raised serious concerns with @HSJnews about the delay to the report, which it's understood was ready 18 months ago
This is despite findings appearing in a public report last week...
Emily Barley retweeted
I spoke to @SkyNews about why stillborn babies like Aubrey are denied access to coroners.
Parliament acted in 2019. Seven years later: no report, no timetable.
One breath should not decide whether a baby’s death can be investigated.
@SophyRidgeSky @WilfredFrost @RidgeandFrost
Emily Barley retweeted
I just flat out don't understand this messaging. Every child deserves the best start in life? Is that what we're saying about babies that die or are injured due to poor maternity care, they didn't get the "best" start in life? Or are we just not thinking about them at all?
This is devastating.
This maternity service was the subject of an extensive and detailed independent review. How can so little have changed? How can babies still be being killed by such basic failings in care?
This is absolutely unbearable.
East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised after an independent review found that eight babies might have survived with better maternity care, admitting it has "failed families".
More here: bbc.in/3VmSO6u
Emily Barley retweeted
A year ago today, families wrote to the Lord Chancellor asking that the then 6½-year-old duty to report was completed.
A year later… we have only just secured a meeting. Another year’s worth of stillborn babies denied justice.
Emily Barley retweeted
Try to listen to victims and see what they actually say cost their children's lives. I'll never get over how tone deaf it is that many midwives speak up about unnecessary intervention whilst our children are killed through neglect. 800+ babies die preventably in the nhs every yr.
Emily Barley retweeted
Worrying that maternity at Worthing Hospital has been downgraded to requires improvement - previously good - after an unannounced inspection in April. Incredibly, the trust did not monitor waiting times for induction of labour.
Emily Barley retweeted
Can we change “lost a baby” to “died due to nhs failures” please ?
I didn’t lose Harriet anywhere- she died because of 13 significant failures in her care.
Emily Barley retweeted
Health Secretary @YvetteCooperMP has said
"mums and babies must never be seen as second-class patients"
A tacit acknowledgement that they currently are?
Yet when mums and babies are harmed, their families are still treated as such: letters left unanswered and contact ignored.
Emily Barley retweeted
Maternity should be a priority so all of our babies make it to the cradle.
Nothing shows that bereaved families (and our babies) aren’t high on your priorities more than continuing to use the ‘cradle to grave’ phrase.
You really need to start meeting families… @YvetteCooperMP
"We always talk about the NHS as being from cradle to grave so let's put the cradle back at the heart of the NHS."
In a speech at the @babylifeline National Maternity Safety Conference, @YvetteCooperMP explains why improving maternity care is a key priority.
Emily Barley retweeted
Substandard NHS maternity care sends babies including my own daughter straight to the grave, and the government continues to fail us by offering empty promises instead of action. We’ve already been failed by the NHS, and now the government is failing us too.
"We always talk about the NHS as being from cradle to grave so let's put the cradle back at the heart of the NHS."
In a speech at the @babylifeline National Maternity Safety Conference, @YvetteCooperMP explains why improving maternity care is a key priority.
So what now?
Pretty much all investigations into harm in the NHS are based on 'no blame' and focused on systems. It all needs to go.
And yes, we've been sounding the alarm on this for YEARS. It's part of why nothing has really changed in maternity.
Thirlwall inquiry.
"The move towards a 'no blame' culture in the NHS, starting in 2000, was a mistake."
thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/…
ALT Screenshot of paragraph 4.26
Emily Barley retweeted
Thirlwall inquiry.
"The move towards a 'no blame' culture in the NHS, starting in 2000, was a mistake."
thirlwall.public-inquiry.uk/…
ALT Screenshot of paragraph 4.26
Emily Barley retweeted
I'm glad @YvetteCooperMP has met with *someone* regarding maternity. Meanwhile, bereaved parents are still waiting for a reply to our letter. It has been almost two months and we are beginning to feel ignored - so yes, it stings a bit that celebrities are being prioritised.
.@YvetteCooperMP met @LouiseAThompson to thank her for speaking out about her traumatic birth experience and campaigning for the creation of a new Maternity and Neonatal Commissioner.
This is a new role with statutory powers to help make care safer and more consistent for all.
Emily Barley retweeted
Who else has direct access to the Health minister that we don't know about? And who else has spoken to her before parents bereaved and harmed by NHS negligence?
.@YvetteCooperMP met @LouiseAThompson to thank her for speaking out about her traumatic birth experience and campaigning for the creation of a new Maternity and Neonatal Commissioner.
This is a new role with statutory powers to help make care safer and more consistent for all.