Fewer women with severe problems are treated by a senior consultant

FEWER Scottish women suffering a serious complication during childbirth are being treated by a senior consultant, prompting concerns over levels of NHS care for some patients.

An audit of women suffering severe problems while having their baby found only 73 per cent of those experiencing a major bleed had direct care from a consultant obstetrician in 2009.

Health officials said it was “disappointing” that the proportion of women being cared for by the most senior staff had fallen in the past two years and now stood at the second-lowest level since figures started to be recorded.

The Scottish Confidential Audit of Severe Maternal Morbidity, now in its seventh year, collected data from maternity units on women suffering severe morbidities – serious complications – during childbirth.

The report said rates of complications fluctuated from year to year, but showed no particular rising or falling trend.

However, concerns were raised that in many cases of major obstetric haemorrhage (MOH) there was no record of direct care from a consultant obstetrician being delivered.

The level of direct consultant care increased from 68 per cent in 2004 to 81 per cent in 2007, but in the past two years rates had fallen.

“It is disappointing that this has fallen in the last two years and the proportion in 2009, at 73 per cent, was the second-lowest in the seven years of the audit,” the report said.

Leslie Marr, reproductive health programme manager at Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said while in some cases a consultant might not have been in the room when the woman was having problems, they might have been informed of what was going on. There might also have been other senior medics – such as a senior registrar – involved in a woman’s care, even when a consultant was not present.