Last chance for Withybush hospital

Last week I sat in a packed meeting in Haverfordwest and heard a group of young mothers relate terrifying stories about their experiences of childbirth since key maternity services were removed from Withybush a year ago. One, who lives a few miles from Haverfordwest and previously would have gone to the hospital there, told how at 1am in the morning she went into labour and called an ambulance. “I was strapped into a stretcher and underwent a horrific journey to Carmarthen,” she said. “I felt every bump in the road. The driver asked whether he should put on the flashing lights and go faster, or go slower. I didn’t know how to answer. My baby was born at 2am.”

Another mother from Tenby told how when she began labour in the middle of the night her husband had put her in the car and started the drive to Carmarthen. However, the baby started coming on the way and they stopped at Canaston Wood. “My baby was born by the side of the road. My husband wrapped him in his jacket and we drove on to Carmarthen,” she said.

A heavily pregnant woman told the meeting that she lived in Dale. “That’s 45 miles and at least an hour and ten minutes to Carmarthen if the roads are completely clear and we know that more often than not they’re clogged with traffic,” she said. “There’s no way I want to be driven to Carmarthen when I go into labour. I don’t think it’s safe or acceptable. I’m arranging to have a home birth at my mother’s house in Haverfordwest.”

There’s been severe overloading at Glangwili since consultant-led maternity care and the Special Care Baby Unit were taken from Withybush a year ago. The Carmarthen hospital is at the end of its tether. Mothers told the meeting that when they rang the hospital to say they were in labour they were told they were mistaken. “A woman at the end of the phone said I wasn’t in labour,” one said. “I said I was. She said I didn’t sound as if I was.”

A nurse who has worked at both hospitals said, “The conditions at Glangwili are nearly impossible to work in. Carmarthen simply wasn’t prepared to take the extra case load. There’s a lot of stress and pressure and an atmosphere of intimidation and bullying.” There was much, much more along these lines. More than 200 people had crammed into the Withybush conference centre to provide testimony to their experiences. The meeting was organised by a group from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. They have been commissioned by the Hywel Dda Health Board to provide an assessment of the safety and effectiveness of maternity and child health services in Pembrokeshire since the changes.

Initially the atmosphere of the meeting was one of confrontation and hostility, as the audience revealed their lack of trust in the kind of engagement underway. Was the group independent? Who was paying for them? Would their report be unbiased? Would it be published?

The chair of the group, Dr John Trounce, a Consultant Paediatrician from Brighton, gave assurances about their independence. The administrator Sue Eardley said their report would be published after it is delivered to Hwyl Dda health Board by the end of September. They appeared shocked when they heard the stories I’ve related. Let’s hope these salutary experiences are reflected in their report. It could be Withybush hospital’s last chance this side of next May’s Assembly election.