According to a new review, a worrying number of 'extreme incidents' were reported by the maternity services in 2014.
The review, which was conducted by the State Claims Agency, indicated that of the 75 reported 'extreme incidents', the infant died in 38 cases while mother died in four.
The document goes on to assert that some of the incidents were unavoidable and came down to factors such as early prematurity or congenital abnormality.
Further to this, it has been established that 30 claims relating to foreign bodies being found in maternity patients were closed over the past decade, with the report insisting that the implementation of operating room guidelines is paramount in order to improve this record.
The review went on to list the most common maternity claims which included severe perineal tears; shoulder dystocia; stillbirth; unexpected neonatal death; cerebral irritability/neonatal seizure; and “other”.
While the number of incidents reported are on par with international figures, the agency asserts that the number of claims in the aforementioned categories have either remained static or reduced since 2012.
According to statistics, the total expenditure on maternity-related claims has increased 80% in 4 years.
