Watchdog slams baby unit errors
 | | Northwick Park Hospital |
A pregnant asylum seeker on the brink of birth was turned away from an NHS maternity ward because she couldn't pay £2,300, a damning report has revealed.
A catalogue of errors at Northwick Park Hospital has been described in the special report compiled by the Healthcare Commission.
The detailed probe unveiled shortfalls including placing bereaved mothers in wards with babies, the unavailability of crucial equipment and allowing toilets and bathrooms to become unkempt and dirty.
The maternity ward was also slammed for failing to maintain the 'privacy and dignity' of expectant mothers.
The damning report, issued by the health watchdog after a review between October and December 2003, comes after the troubled hospital was placed on special measures following an alarming rate of deaths in the last three years.
The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust had agreed a course of action, recommended by the HC, after seven new or expectant mothers died between April 2002 and December 2003.
But, following a further two deaths in May and June last year, and a tenth woman in March this year, the HC conducted an unannounced 'spot-check' which concluded the maternity ward had 'unacceptable conditions'.
Northwick Park Hospital was placed on special measures.
A trust spokesman said a HC report scrutinising the deaths will be published in the autumn.
The review will investigate, among other factors, whether there is a link or a pattern pertaining to the deaths.
The massive overhaul was needed in the department, according to one worker.
She told the Times: "It was like a cattle market there, one woman in, one woman out.
"There are so many women in there that they are not checking them properly. Women were being sent home without being examined properly.
"One first-time mother was sent home the day after she gave birth with a piece of placenta still in her. She could have died of a haemorrhage.
"It comes as no surprise to me to hear about these women dying."
jenny engstrom@archant.co.uk and lorraine.king@archant.co.uk
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