September 2019
The Health Service Journal has reported that staff failing to act on abnormal fetal heartbeats during labour was the most common contributing factor in cases where babies were born with brain damage. These were then referred to NHS Resolution’s new early notification (EN) scheme. Analysis of the first 12 months of the scheme found issues with fetal heart monitoring were involved in almost 70 per cent of the 96 cases examined. The EN schemes aim is to halve the rate of stillbirth, neonatal death and brain injury by 2025. Before the scheme, the average length of time between an incident occurring and an award for compensation was 11.5 years.