Luna Lesko

“There was a delay in securing a cardiotocograph (CTG) which she needed after she had meconium liquor at 15.20, I cs in the birthing suite and needed to access a labour ward room to have this foetal monitoring. The delay was due to the labour suite being very busy, but she was transferred and monitoring began at 17.02.”

“LSCS was required to deliver the baby, due to lack of progression despite augmentation, adverse position and prolonged rupture of membranes with meconium. The decision was taken at 20.00 hours, but delivery was not possible until 21.40 hours, as theatres were busy. This delay of 1 hour 40 minutes for a category 2 section was 40 minutes outside the Trust's own guidelines.”

“The consultant obstetrician reported that this delay, which occurred out of hours, ina unit with over 4000 births per year was unacceptable. It worsens the potential impact, carrying a higher risk of brain damage or death of babies, if there were several emergencies at one time. Staff were reluctant to use the second out of hours (non obstetric) theatre as they cannot then respond to a category 1 emergency.”