WIREDGOV

Yesterday the Public Administration Select Committee announced they are holding two hearings, one into midwifery supervision and another one into sepsis, this month.

This follows the publication of two reports by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman about sepsis and another on midwifery supervision, both of which made a series of recommendations.

Midwifery Regulation & Supervision: recommendations for changerecommended that the Nursing and Midwifery Council be in direct control of all regulatory activity and found that the lives of mothers and babies were being put at risk because this isn't the case.

Time to act, Severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves livesrevealed that not enough was being done to save the lives of people with sepsis, commonly referred to as blood poisoning.

Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said:

'This is great news for patients, their families and carers. Our recommendations for change on both sepsis and midwifery regulation, if implemented, have the potential to save thousands of lives a year.

'We welcome that Parliament is using our casework to hold NHS services to account and that people who complain to us can see that their complaint can lead to change.

'We investigate hundreds of complaints about health service treatment each year and where we see big and repeated mistakes we make recommendations and seek agreement to action to prevent more lives being lost.

'Our midwifery report found that the lives of mothers and babies were being put at risk because supervisors of midwives have two inherently conflicting roles. They investigate incidents their peers are involved with on behalf of the regulator whilst at the same time being responsible for the development and support of these same peers. As a result there is a risk that lessons from serious incidents involving midwives will not be learnt. This is dangerous and needs to change. We recommended that the supervisory and regulatory roles should be completely separated. We want to see the Nursing and Midwifery Council in charge of all regulatory activity. Mothers and babies will continue to be at risk until there is urgent action by government to change midwifery regulation.  

'Sepsis is a treatable condition but too many people are dying unnecessarily from it because NHS services are failing to spot the warning signs. This is why there are 12,500 avoidable deaths from sepsis a year in the UK. There needs to be a combined effort by the health sector to improve the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, to halt the avoidable deaths from the condition, many of which happen within hours of arrival at hospital.'

The PASC hearings are due to take place on Wednesday, 10 September at 9.30am.

Notes to editors

1. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman was set up by Parliament. It is the final step for people to complain to when they have been treated unfairly or received a poor service from the NHS in England or a government department or agency. Its role is to investigate complaints fairly, without taking sides and make recommendations to put things right, to prevent the same problem from happening again.
2. Its powers are set out in law and the service is free for everyone.
3. In 2013/14 it investigated 2,199 cases compared to 384 the previous year. The majority (78%) of its investigations were about the NHS.
4. Midwifery Regulation & Supervision: recommendations for change was published in December 2013. The original press release is here and the report is here.
5. Time to act, Severe sepsis: rapid diagnosis and treatment saves liveswas published in September 2013. The original press release is hereand the report is here. 

Contact: Marina Soteriou

Phone: 0300 061 4996