We apologise to the women and families who have described negative experiences to the BBC and offer our sincere condolences to those families who have lost loved ones.
We want to reassure everyone that our maternity and neonatal services are safe, and we have put together some questions and answers for you below.
Is it safe for me to have my baby at Leeds Teaching Hospitals?
Yes, it is safe for you to have your baby at Leeds Teaching Hospitals. There are more than 8,500 births in Leeds hospitals (St James’s Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary) every year, and the vast majority of babies are born safely.
Our staff are committed to providing the best possible care for the women and families who use our maternity and neonatal services. We have teams of experienced and well-trained staff who are caring, compassionate and dedicated, and the Trust’s maternity services were rated Good by the CQC in June 2023.
Our most recent patient survey from August 2024 rated us in line with other trusts regarding feedback from patients on labour and birth, staff caring for patients, and care in hospital after birth.
Do you have enough midwives in your hospitals?
There is a national shortage of midwives, but in Leeds we have recently been successful in recruiting more midwives to care for our women and families.
Our Trust Board agreed last year to provide additional funding for this. 25 new midwives started in autumn 2024, nine started in January, and we are currently recruiting a further 16.
We work closely with local universities to support student midwives, with many choosing to continue their careers with us here in Leeds.
Will you listen to me if I have a concern or complaint?
Yes – we always take complaints and concerns raised by patients, families and staff very seriously and we are always looking for ways we can improve.
If you have a concern about your care at any point you can discuss it with the team providing your care, or you can contact the PALS team on 0113 206 6261 or email [email protected]
We work together with Leeds Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) to make improvements using feedback from the experiences of our patients. MNVP parent representatives regularly visit our wards and departments to gain feedback from families directly. Anyone wishing to get involved in the work of the MNVP can contact: [email protected] or join their Facebook group.
Why are the neonatal death figures higher at Leeds than at other hospitals?
The neonatal service at Leeds cares for some of the most poorly babies in the country, because we have specialist services which many other hospitals do not offer.
Some of these babies are born at hospitals in other parts of the country and they are transferred to Leeds for specialist surgery or treatment.
An independent review, comparing our figures in more detail with other specialist hospitals, shows our neonatal mortality rate is within the expected range.
Deaths of babies and mothers are fortunately very rare. However, sometimes in healthcare, the outcomes are not always positive, and we know this can be incredibly distressing for families. When this happens, we thoroughly investigate the circumstances, always involving the family, to ensure we learn any lessons and make changes to care and treatment for future patients and families.
Why does Leeds have “potentially avoidable” deaths?
Every hospital trust reviews all deaths of babies and mothers and looks for anything that might possibly have made a difference to the outcome, to help us learn and improve our services. If we find anything that could have been done differently, this is recorded as “potentially avoidable”, however it does not mean that this was necessarily the cause of death.
Are your maternity services inclusive of all communities?
We aim to provide the very best possible care to women, babies and families from all the diverse communities in Leeds and across the region. We are committed to challenging discrimination and promoting equality, and we are constantly working with individuals and community groups such as the MNVP, Black African Women and women’s groups in Harehills and Chapeltown, amongst others, to understand how we can best communicate with and support families across Leeds.
Rabina Tindale – Chief Nurse
Dr Magnus Harrison – Chief Medical Officer