Apology as mum left to give birth on ERI floor

HEALTH chiefs have apologised after a mother was forced to give birth on the floor of the ERI, after pleading in vain with staff to take her to the hospital's labour ward.

Lynne Neilson told how she spent hours in the maternity unit's waiting room, before eventually giving birth to little Orla while fully clothed and standing up, having still not been admitted to the ward.

She said she was later told that there had been a vacant room on the labour ward all along.

She and husband Gavin, who are both 36 and live in the Grange, said they were left traumatised and angry by their experience and have made an official complaint to the hospital and Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

NHS Lothian today said it had launched an immediate investigation and apologised to the couple.

Full-time mum Mrs Neilson and her husband, who works for Scottish Widows, arrived at the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion at 11.45am on December 5, but after waiting two hours for an examination, her labour slowed and the couple went home.

They returned at 7pm and were told to sit in the waiting room as the contractions quickened. Mr Neilson asked repeatedly for help until his wife, barely able to walk and close to vomiting with pain, was finally moved to an assessment room and examined by a midwife.

Mrs Neilson said: "She said she'd come back in 20 minutes and that's when it all really went wrong, because she was caught up seeing other patients. Every time Gavin was going out to say we needed assistance, there was no-one coming in."

Two and a half hours after they had arrived back at the hospital, Orla was born on to a disposable tissue paper mat on the floor of the assessment room.

Mrs Neilson said: "The room we were in was cold, there was a narrow trolley – not a bed – which I couldn't get up on to, so I was holding on to the side of that.

"I was shouting out, it was so undignified, because everybody in the waiting room would have been able to hear us. I felt a huge pressure and at that point I knew that we'd left it too late and that the baby was going to be born."

A midwife arrived just in time to find Orla's head emerging, with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.

Mrs Neilson said: "She took control and put down a disposable mat on the floor. She caught the baby – I was standing up and she was born on to the floor. I was very relieved that the midwife had come, because we were panicking, and she untangled the umbilical cord."

After the birth, Mrs Neilson was finally helped on to the trolley, but the family waited a further hour before being transferred upstairs to a labour ward.

They said that when they arrived, they were told that the labour ward was not actually full, and the room they were placed in had been vacant throughout Mrs Neilson's labour.

The couple have three older children, who were born in Glasgow, Hong Kong and at the ERI, but said this was the worst experience they have had in a maternity unit.

Mrs Neilson said: "It did have a happy ending, you get home and you think 'she's fine', but actually the service we received and the treatment we got were virtually non-existent. The cord was around her neck when she was born, so had someone not arrived to help, it could have been pretty bad news. The whole thing was just unbelievable. I just want them to change the process."

David Farquharson, clinical director of women's services in NHS Lothian, said: "I would like to personally apologise to Mr and Mrs Neilson, and I have written to them already. This is not the experience we would want any mother or family to have.

"It is far from our normal service and we have launched an immediate investigation to discover why this happened.

"Labour and birth can be unpredictable, and Lothian has experienced a baby boom with almost 9500 births in the last year, but we are confident that a review of services and a planned birthing centre at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh will help prevent a similar incident."

BABY ORLA'S ARRIVAL

Thursday Dec 4, evening Contractions start and continue through the night.

Friday Dec 5, 11am With contractions five minutes apart, the Neilsons phone the hospital to let them know they will arrive within the hour.

11.45am They arrive at the maternity unit's triage and assessment clinic and are told to sit in the waiting room.

1.45pm Mr Neilson asks when a midwife will examine his wife and says he is told they are all on their lunch break. Mrs Neilson is so upset a midwife is brought down from the labour ward and examines her. The labour has slowed and they are advised to go for a walk or return home. They choose the latter.

7pmThe contractions are very strong and occurring every three to four minutes. They return to the hospital and are told to sit in the waiting room again. Mrs Neilson is barely able to walk and close to vomiting with pain.

7.20pm A midwife going off duty notices her distress and transfers her to an assessment room.

Around 8pm She is examined by another midwife, who the Neilsons say promises to return 20 minutes later, but does not.

After 9pm Mrs Neilson realises the baby is arriving. Mr Neilson runs into the corridor shouting for help. A midwife arrives.

9.30pm Baby Orla is delivered on to a disposable sheet on the floor. Mother and baby are placed on a trolley in the assessment room.

11pm The family are finally taken to a labour room, and told it was vacant all along.