A scandal-hit hospital’s trust has been under fire again after advertising for a maternity doctor with a ‘desire to promote normal births’.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says it is looking for an obstetrics and gynecology consultant in its high-risk baby unit who will support its ‘active’ workforce.
However, safe birth campaigners have reacted angrily online, claiming ‘normal’ has become a byword for ‘natural’ birth – a fixation that has left many midwives frowning on medical interventions and caesareans, even when they are needed.
This ‘obsession’, they added, has been linked to the failure of several maternal units in recent years where hundreds of babies died, the main question has been found.
Experts say the wording of the ad ‘beggars belief’. Others labeled it ‘scandalous’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘very alarming’.
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust says it is looking for obstetrics and gynecology consultants in fetal and high-risk units who will support ‘normal births’. The advert – which has since been taken down – said the doctor would also have at least a year’s experience in the NHS.
In response, consultant pediatrician Dr. Ravi Jayaram, who helped arrest the serial baby-killer Lucy Letby at the Countess of Chester Hospital, said: Anyone who applies for this should be immediately excluded from consideration for the post. Dr Jayaram, whose evidence helped convict Letby, added: ‘(It) should read “desire to support and promote safe birth” – if it needs to be said.
Emily Barley, co-founder of the Maternity Safety Alliance, also said: Can someone from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust explain why they are ignoring the findings of the Ockenden & Kirkup report about the dangers of promoting “normal birth”. Ms Barley, whose daughter Beatrice died at Barnsley Hospital in 2022 after staff mistakenly checked the mother’s heart rate instead of the baby’s, added: ‘It’s very worrying’
The trust was embroiled in similar controversy last year after the Royal Hampshire County Hospital Winchester faced unfair dismissal claims by former consultant obstetricians and gynaecologists.
Martyn Pitman, who has worked at the hospital for 20 years, was fired last March after raising concerns about midwifery care and patient safety at the hospital.
In a post on X, Catherine Roy linked to the ad, adding: ‘Where Martyn Pitman used to work. The takeover by normal birth is now complete. What a scandal.
In response, pediatric consultant Dr Ravi Jayaram, whose evidence helped to convict the serial killer Lucy Letby at the Countess of Chester Hospital, said: ‘Anyone who applied for this should be immediately excluded from consideration for the post.
He added: ‘(It) should read “the desire to support and promote safe birth” – if necessary to speak at all.’
Meanwhile, Mr Pitman himself, said: “Is it surprising Ravi, after all the recent maternity scandals, all linked to a dangerous normalization agenda, that this advertisement could be worded in such a way? It just beggars belief.’
James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died at Furness General Hospital in 2008 from sepsis, added: ‘Siri, show me why the same problem can cause harm in the maternity service again and again.’
It took years for Mr. Titcombe to discover the truth about what happened to his son.
The campaign led to the Morecambe Bay Inquiry, which found a ‘mixture of potential failures’ led to the needless deaths of one mother and 11 babies.
Emily Barley, co-founder of the Maternity Safety Alliance, also said: ‘Can someone from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust explain why they ignored the findings of the Ockenden & Kirkup report about the dangers of promoting “normal birth”.
The trust was embroiled in scandal last year after the Royal Hampshire County Hospital Winchester (pictured) faced unfair dismissal claims by a former consultant obstetrician and gynecologist.
James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died at Furness General Hospital in 2008 from sepsis, added: ‘Siri, show me why the same problem can cause harm in the maternity service again and again.’ It took years for Mr. Titcombe to discover the truth about what happened to his son. The campaign led to the Morecambe Bay Inquiry, which found a ‘mixture of potential failures’ led to the needless deaths of one mother and 11 babies.
Ms Barley, whose daughter Beatrice died at Barnsley Hospital in 2022 after staff mistakenly checked the mother’s heart rate instead of the baby’s, added: ‘This is very worrying.’
MailOnline has approached Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The idea of ​​’normal birth’ has often been promoted by respected bodies.
But the Royal College of Midwives officially rejected the ‘normal birth’ campaign in 2017, after previously praising the trust for maintaining caesarean rates.
In 2022, a landmark 250-page report by senior midwife Donna Ockenden found Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust led to catastrophic failure for 20 years – and failed to learn from inadequate investigations.
This shows that mothers are made to have natural births despite the fact that they must be offered to Caesar.
This results in stillborn babies, dying soon after birth or being severely brain damaged.
About 200 babies and nine mothers could have survived if they had given better care when the low Caesarean rate was considered positive in the country and locally, he said.
After Shrewsbury’s report, many women described how they felt pressured not to have a caesarean.
One of them is MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who announced in 2022 that she had been ‘told I would not have a caesarean section’ when she gave birth to her first child.
Recalling her experience, she told LBC that after her son was born she realized it was ‘ridiculous’ that she didn’t have the procedure and that it was ‘really’ something she had to do.
Ms Trevelyan added that she was left ‘absolutely devastated’ but luckily her child was okay.
It comes as a damning report into the ‘postcode lottery’ of NHS maternity care last month also ruled good care is ‘the exception rather than the rule’.
The highly anticipated parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma, which heard evidence from more than 1,300 women, found pregnant women were being treated like ‘slabs of meat’.
At the time, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins labeled the testimony heard in the report ‘painful’ and vowed to improve maternity care for ‘women during pregnancy, birth and the critical months that follow’.
NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard also said the experience outlined in the report was ‘not good enough’.
Last week, tThe Green Party was also attacked for claiming childbirth should be considered a ‘non-medical event’.
In the policy of mothers, the party focused on the environment is called a caesarean that saves lives ‘at risk’.
Among his election promises, he claimed he would ‘be able to reduce the number of interventions during childbirth’ and highlighted the party’s concerns about the decline in ‘natural’ birth rates.
The proposal, which has now been removed from the party’s website but is still circulating on social media, was branded ‘antiquated’ and ‘disappointing’ by doctors.
