Latest news with #hospitalstaff
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Breastfeeding baby died after ‘distracted' midwife left room for 25 minutes
By Jeremy Wilkinson, Open Justice reporter of Photo: A "distracted" midwife who was "rushing" to complete administrative tasks after a birth left the room for 25 minutes - only to come back and find the baby unresponsive. She, and the other staff at the hospital fought to revive the newborn, who had just finished breastfeeding, but she died despite being transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Now, a coroner has criticised midwife Lesa Haynesfor a lack of vigilance and mismanagement of her priorities which resulted in the preventable death of the 30-hour-old baby girl. An inquest held in 2023 focused on the postpartum care the couple received, in terms of how they were taught to breastfeed the baby and make sure she was able to both breathe and feed. According to inquest findings, which were released today, the baby was born in 2015 at Palmerston North Hospital, and the parents, who cannot be named, were assisted by Haynes in helping the baby latch before she left the room to complete paperwork and other tasks. The mother said that at some point during this time, her baby stopped feeding, and she thought this meant she was full and had gone to sleep. Shortly after this, the mother began bleeding and needed to call for a nurse, at which point Haynes returned and noticed that the baby appeared quite still. Haynes recalls the baby lying on her back, not breathing, with mottled skin and immediately recognised something was wrong and began attempting to resuscitate her. The baby was intubated and then transferred to Wellington Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. However, it was found that the baby had suffered irreversible brain damage due to a lack of oxygen, and the decision was made to take her off life support. The cause of death was confirmed as Hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy due to neonatal asphyxia during the skin-to-skin contact while feeding the baby. The baby's mother told the inquest that she recalled being surprised at how close the baby needed to be held in order to be fed, and remembers asking Haynes: "Will she be able to breathe?" and being told in response that "The desire to breathe is greater than her desire to feed." She didn't recall any specific instructions on how to keep the baby's airways clear, and that after the feeding had finished her daughter appeared to be asleep. The baby's father said that after the skin-to-skin contact and the feeding began, Haynes left the room a number of times. When she returned and saw that the baby was still, she "immediately grabbed the baby and jumped into action". When asked about what he expected in terms of Haynes' further involvement, he said that they were first-time parents and were in her hands, and it was for her to tell them what to do. The father said the inquest focused on the breastfeeding, but at the time it didn't seem like a huge thing because they were told what to expect before Haynes left the room. "That didn't seem unusual or alarming to us, we didn't know any better. Everything was relaxed, casual and there were no details," he said. Haynes accepted that she was absent for about 25 minutes during the second hour of the baby being born, and that she had left the room multiple times in the first hour. "…it would have been for a couple of minutes to get pain relief but with the amount of work that goes on within that first hour or so, there's no way I left the room for an extended period of time and would have left them alone," she said at the inquest. Haynes explained that once the baby had been born she would keep an eye on the girl's colour and breathing and checking the placenta and the mother's perineum. She would also clean up after the birth, position the mother and getting the baby skin to skin. In terms of breastfeeding she said that she talked about keeping the baby's face clear, watching the length of her jaw for sucking, what to look for with swallowing, how to make sure that her face was clear. She said she showed the mother how to put her finger on her breast to keep that away from the baby's face and then got her to repeat that back to her. She said she most definitely showed the parents the proper technique for breastfeeding, stating. "I can still see that day in my head, it is very clear, that that's what I did…I cannot get rid of it". After about five minutes she considered that the mother and baby were fine and that the father was capable of watching them, so she left the room to give them some time alone. The midwife was questioned at the inquest about whether she had an obligation to remain in the room. "In hindsight, absolutely," she replied. Haynes declined to comment further when approached by NZME about today's findings. Coroner Bruce Hesketh said in his findings that Haynes had not provided an acceptable standard of maternity care, that it wasn't appropriate for her to have left the room, and that the baby's death was preventable. "I am satisfied that RM Haynes was rushing to complete her outstanding tasks instead of being vigilant during the very important skin to skin contact and first breastfeed between [the mother] and [the baby]." "I do not accept it was appropriate in the circumstances of this case to leave the parents alone at the time she did. It was too soon and there had not been sufficient observation of mother and baby during the first breastfeed." Coroner Hesketh said that Haynes' priorities were wrong in leaving the room when she did and that she should have stayed longer to observe. "I find RM Haynes got distracted when she left the birthing suite and had it not been for the call bell activation and the intervention of [hospital staff], I am satisfied RM Haynes would have been absent for even longer." Coroner Hesketh recommended the Te Whatu Ora review the definition of the "Immediate Postnatal period" in its guidelines, and that this period should not encompass just the first one to two hours post birth. Instead, Coroner Hesketh said this period should be an ongoing assessment that recognised any deviations from normality. * This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald .
CBS News
3 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Rush Hospital in Chicago recovering from air conditioning outage
Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has told paramedics to bypass their emergency department and canceled surgeries for the day after an earlier air conditioning outage amid high heat and humidity. A spokesperson said a chilled water line in the hospital's main tower building went down for a time Monday morning. As a result, the HVAC system and critical equipment did not receive cooling. The water line problem has since been repaired and the HVAC system is back online, but cooling is delayed to the building until later this afternoon. As a result, Rush has told ambulances to bypass their emergency department for the time being and have canceled many surgeries today. The spokesperson said they expect conditions in the tower to be uncomfortable until the cooling system can fully recover, and in the meantime they are taking steps to ensure staff and patients are safe as temperatures rise. The Chicago area is experiencing dangerous heat and humidity at the start of this week, with the heat index making it feel like it's well over 100 degrees. Relief is not expected to come until mid-week.
BBC News
23-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Worcestershire County Hall parking used by hospital staff
Hundreds of empty spaces at County Hall car parks will be opened up to hospital staff as a temporary measure to reduce parking County Council struck up an agreement with Worcestershire NHS Acute Hospitals Trust to provide 354 spaces at the site while the authority decommissions its former King from the trust welcomed the arrangement, which will see spaces made available to Worcestershire Royal Hospital staff from 4 August. "We are delighted," Ms King said, "this agreement will help to reduce congestion into and out of the hospital site during peak times." County Hall in Worcester has been left vacant since June 2024, with staff working remotely or from other council February, 50 parking spaces were temporarily made available for hospital staff while their usual parking was improved.A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council said: "This arrangement supports hospital operations by freeing up visitor parking as hospital staff will use part of the County Hall car park." Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
County Hall car parks to open to hundreds of hospital staff as new deal reached
HUNDREDS of spaces at empty County Hall car parks are to be opened up to hospital staff as a temporary measure to reduce parking problems and congestion. The car parks at the empty former headquarters of Worcestershire County Council in Worcester are to be opened up to hospital staff from August 4, an agreement which will provide space for 350 plus NHS staff to park. The agreement has been welcomed by both the county council and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester. CONGESTED: A queue at the busy Worcestershire Royal Hospital site in Worcester (Image: Supplied by Worcester Green Party) It is hoped the move will reduce congestion and parking issues at the main hospital site, making the experience of getting to and from the hospital less stressful for patients, visitors and staff. If staff are using the County Hall car park as part of the temporary arrangement, the aim is that more spaces for patients and visitors would become available on the main hospital site. Cllr Andrew Cross and Cllr Katie Collier, Green Party councillors, were among those to push for the County Hall car parks to be opened up for use by the hospital late last year, organising a petition in favour of the move which garnered nearly 2,000 signatures and was handed in to the county council in February. EMPTY: One of the car parks at County Hall in Worcester which is now being decommissioned (Image: James Connell/Newsquest photos) Both shared footage showing the Worcester hospital site gridlocked, something which affected Cllr Collier personally when her father was unwell and her mother needed to visit him. Car park 1 at County Hall would be allocated exclusively to acute hospital staff with a warning that parking will be monitored and any unauthorised parking may result in a fine. Meanwhile, car park 4 at County Hall will have additional reserved bays for DEFRA and Komatsu staff. County council staff will continue to be allowed to park in car park 8 (Wildwood), car park 4 (except those bays marked for DEFRA and Komatsu) and car parks 3, 5 and 9. RECOMMENDED READING: Worcester hospital parking 'horrific' as petition handed in RECOMMENDED READING: Majority of County Hall site authorised for disposal Staff have also been reminded that parking at the Countryside Centre is not permitted. A spokesperson for Worcestershire County Council, said: 'The council has agreed terms with the Worcestershire NHS Acute Hospitals Trust to temporarily make use of car parking on the County Hall site, whilst the decommissioning of County Hall takes place. This arrangement supports hospital operations by freeing up visitor parking as hospital staff will use part of the County Hall car park.' Emma King, Director of Estates and Facilities at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said "We are delighted to announce we have agreed terms with Worcestershire County Council to secure 354 extra staff car parking spaces in Car Park 1 adjacent to the Countryside centre for staff at Worcestershire Royal Hospital. This agreement will help to reduce congestion into and out of the hospital site during peak times."
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Staff share fond memories for hospital anniversary
A former nurse says she looks back at her career with "very fond memories" as a hospital celebrates its 150th anniversary. Stroud General Hospital moved to its current site in 1875 and provides the surrounding area with inpatient and outpatient services, including a minor injuries and illness unit. Wendy Phillips, who trained in the late 1960s, said while the hospital was now "indescribably different", it was a "lovely" and "friendly" place to work at. It comes as former and current hospital employees come together to celebrate the milestone at a number of events, the first being a service at Holy Trinity Church in Stroud on Sunday. Ms Phillips, who "thoroughly enjoyed her training" at the hospital, said it involved two years living at the site and described the "green and white striped dresses with white aprons" worn by the nurses. More news stories for Gloucestershire Listen to the latest news for Gloucestershire "It [being a nurse] wasn't a chore, I enjoyed every minute of it and looking back now it is very fond memories," she added. Paul Lazelle told BBC Radio Gloucestershire he started work as a porter at the hospital in 1975, shortly before the centenary celebrations. "We did everything from delivering laundry to the wards, food as well, sorting post, sorting out taking deceased to the mortuary," he said. "Pretty much everything that nobody else wanted to do was our job," he added. He said he liked the job so much he became head porter in 1981, remaining in the role full-time for nearly 30 years and only fully giving it up around three years ago. Even now, he volunteers one day a week in a shop run by Stroud Hospitals League of Friends, which supports the site with equipment. Matron of Stroud and Vale Community Hospitals, Liz Lovett, said she was "really proud" of the hospital's "incredible service" and staff would be celebrating in a number of ways, including a picture competition with local schools. "This is an opportunity to thank everyone who has made Stroud General Hospital what it is today," she added. Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Major refurbishment for Victorian-era hospital Only visit A&E if life-threatening, hospitals say Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
