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Figures show fewer complaints about Whittington midwives
MIDWIVES at Whittington Hospital receive seven times fewer complaints a year than their counterparts at University College and Royal Free hospitals, figures released to the Tribune reveal.
Statistics published under the Freedom of Information Act show that, since 2004, Whittington Hospital, in Archway, has received only 13 complaints, while University College Hospital, in Euston, had 93 and the Royal Free, in Hampstead, had 112.
Across the board, only one midwife, a Royal Free employee, was reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She was not removed from the register.
Further figures show that, over the last six years, UCH had 122 complaints – about 20 a year – while the Royal Free had 141, just over 23 annually.
Whittington Hospital was unable to expand on its figures.
A Whittington spokesman said: “We installed a new computer system to deal with complaints in 2004 so we can only provide information back to that time.”
At UCH a spokesman said: “We encourage and actively seek feedback and also have a debrief midwife to support mothers wishing to complain.”
The figures show little difference between UCH’s £400 million hospital and Hampstead’s Royal Free, which came in for criticism earlier this year following an inquest into the death of baby Riley Croft.
The inquest found that baby Riley, the son of BBC journalists Iain Croft and Heather Paterson, from West Hampstead, died of asphyxia in March 2005 after midwives failed to notice his heart rate had dropped. |
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