News & Insights: Healthcare

Inquest Leads to Review of Maternity Services in Northern Ireland

23 October 2024

The BBC reports the publication of a review into maternity services ordered in the aftermath of the Inquest of Jaxon McVey. O’Reilly Stewart represented the family of the deceased child during the proceedings. Jaxon was stillborn at the Royal jubilee Maternity Hospital, having been transferred from the Lagan Valley Hospital Free-Standing Midwifery Unit due to complications in the labour. Jaxon became stuck during delivery, due to shoulder dystocia, and the attending midwifery staff were unable to relieve the obstruction to delivery.

On 11th November 2022, in Banbridge Courthouse, Coroner Dougan announced her verdict in respect of the stillbirth of Jaxon McVey on 26th May 2017. In finding that Jaxon’s stillbirth was both “foreseeable and preventable”, the Coroner made a series of recommendations to the Trust to improve care.

The Coroner concluded by noting that whilst there are no longer any Freestanding Midwifery-led Units open in Northern Ireland, (the Lagan Valley Freestanding Midwifery-led Unit having been suspended in 2022 due to safety concerns) and recommended that a comprehensive review of the number of staff, experience, training and policies, should be conducted by the Department of Health in the event of these Units re-opening in the future.

The report produced by Professor Mary Renfrew follows on the heels of that recommendation. Recognising “both serious weaknesses and real strengths” in current services, the report has concluded that “urgent transformation” is needed.

Whilst cautiously welcoming any measures which would prevent the loss of a child by another family, Jaxon’s mother, Christine McCleery,  expressed concerns about the recommendation of midwifery-led standalone units staffed only by midwifery personnel and where doctors would not be present.

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