Coronation Street – Maternity Care Negligence

In the coming weeks, we are set to see the worlds of Coronation Street and medical negligence come together as the soap takes on the incredibly important issue of failures in maternity care within the NHS.

Soap Solicitor, Dee-Dee Bailey, will suffer serious complications during the birth of her baby, which will put her life at risk and leave her fighting for answers and justice.

The complications in Dee-Dee’s labour and delivery will arise as a result of delays and failures in her maternity care. Firstly, Dee-Dee will go into labour but will be erroneously sent home from the hospital, despite reporting extreme pain. We will then see Dee-Dee returning to the hospital after her waters break. Sadly, there will be a series of unacceptable delays which will result in Dee-Dee being rushed in for an emergency delivery. She will suffer a serious haemorrhage during childbirth and she will undergo life-saving and life-changing surgery. Unfortunately, Dee-Dee will have to undergo an emergency hysterectomy to save her life, which will render her infertile, unable to have any future children and with further consequences such as suffering with early menopause and psychological harm. Naturally devastated by the traumatic events, Dee-Dee will reflect on her birth trauma and will raise concerns about the treatment which she received. She will wonder whether mistakes were made throughout her care, whether her harm was avoidable and whether (perhaps surprisingly to some) her poor care was linked to her ethnicity.

Whilst some of the drama may be created for entertainment purposes, poor maternity care is a real, live and important issue which is affecting new mothers and their babies across the UK so it is really important that the soap is tackling this issue and shining a spotlight the serious, ongoing maternity care failures within the NHS and the frightening and devastating impact that such failures have on mothers and babies.

The National State of Patient Safety 2024 report, published by Imperial College London, recently revealed troubling findings regarding the safety of care provided to patients across England. The report highlights a significant deterioration in patient safety over the past two years, with an alarming rise in neonatal and maternal deaths in maternity services. A key finding in the report was the decline in maternity safety. Rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and maternal deaths have worsened. Racial disparities were also highlighted with maternal death rates for Black women are almost three times higher than for White women. Data shows that Black women are more likely to suffer physical and psychological harm through pregnancy and birth. The Birthrights Race Inquiry documented some of the experiences behind these statistics including consistent failures to identify medical conditions due to skin colour, racial stereotyping and breaches of consent.

At Fletchers, we see a wide range of maternity care failures with devastating impacts on mum, baby and the wider family. We see avoidable harm to mothers such as haemorrhaging during delivery with consequences on future fertility (as demonstrated with Dee-Dee’s case), vaginal tears with long term consequences such as bladder and bowel incontinence or death during childbirth. We see avoidable harm to babies such as brain injuries, disfigurement and damage caused by forceps, stillborns or death after delivery. Mothers and babies can suffer life-long and / or life-changing harm with physical and psychological consequences.

The situation in maternity services is concerning, with rates of stillbirths and deaths of both mothers and babies increasing. This is a deeply worrying trend, especially when we consider that bringing a baby into the world should be one of the most joyous and exciting experiences in a person’s life, not a source of fear and anxiety. New parents should be aware of their rights, especially during such a vulnerable time. The expectation of safe care should be the bare minimum. Unfortunately, many women and families are now faced with uncertainty and fear as they navigate maternity care, rather than the reassurance that their health and the health of their baby are in safe hands.

In the soap, we will see Dee-Dee considering making an official complaint of negligence against the hospital, which she is set to involve her fellow legal professional, Alya Nazir (who was tasked with defending criminal cases in recent weeks). Medical negligence is a complex area of law – if you have suffered at the hands of maternity failures, please seek advice from a specialist medical negligence Solicitor with experience of dealing with such claim.

Why it’s important that this story is told?

It is incredibly important that a show like Coronation Street is highlighting the maternity crisis within the NHS to raise awareness of the ongoing failures and avoidable harm which is caused by poor maternity care. Dealing with such a difficult and important issue on such a big platform should help to raise awareness and reach people in all walks of life (as negligent care can happen to anyone of any age, gender, location, class) to bring the issue to the forefront of people’s minds. It will hopefully help those mothers who have suffered poor maternity care to feel less alone, to come forward and to seek legal advice from a clinical negligence specialist and it will hopefully help any prospective parents to be more informed and alert to potential poor care at the time of using the maternity services, which in turn, will hopefully result in some harm being avoided.

Why this issue is still prevalent today

Poor maternity care and failings within maternity services have been important issues which have been raised time and time again, especially over the past few years. There have been several investigations into the poor maternity services with reports of numerous distressing findings and numerous recommendations of how maternity services need to be improved. Despite there being such a focus on poor maternity care, the situation does not seem to be improving. Sadly, as the 2024 National State of Patient Safety report revealed, patient safety within maternity services has actually declined with rates of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, and maternal deaths having worsened. It is concerning that despite a focus on the issues with maternity safety, numerous investigations and reporting, the standard of care provided by the service is still declining.

What maternity failings we’re seeing

At Fletchers, we see a wide range of maternity care failures with devastating impacts on mum, baby and the wider family. We see avoidable harm to mothers such as haemorrhaging during delivery with consequences on future fertility (as demonstrated with Dee-Dee’s case), vaginal tears with long term consequences such as bladder and bowel incontinence or death during childbirth. We see avoidable harm to babies such as brain injuries, disfigurement and damage caused by forceps, stillborns or death after delivery. Mothers and babies can suffer life-long and / or life-changing harm with physical and psychological consequences. Avoidable harm can be caused by a wide range of failures, for example, failures to adequately scan and monitor the baby antenatally, failures to appropriately monitor the mother and baby during labour, failures to recognise and act upon fetal or maternal distress during labour, failures to appropriately escalate delivery when required, failures to perform a Caesarean section when required, failures to perform an episiotomy to avoid vaginal tears and failures in postnatal care for mother and baby.

What to do if something similar has happened to a reader

If you or a loved one has suffered harm due to poor maternity care, please contact us and seek legal advice from a specialist clinical negligence Solicitor. In most cases, you have 3 years from the date of the negligent care to start your claim at Court so it is important that you consult a Solicitor as soon as possible so that we can commence investigations and advise you whether you have a potential clinical negligence claim. We will support you every step of the way, investigating the care you received, providing legal advice, getting the answers you deserve and ensuring that you are appropriately compensated for the avoidable harm that you have suffered.