Skip to main content

‘Why are only midwives held accountable for baby deaths?’

CALLS have been made for greater transparency and accountability over the investigation into the deaths of two babies at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital.

Deputy Barry Brehaut, who resigned from the former Health and Social Services Department after the death of a baby at the hospital, says that the manner in which the midwives had been singled out had troubled him for some time. He and former nurses’ union representative Sandra James, pictured lower right, have both questioned why the midwives involved in the cases concerning the deaths of two babies have been so publicly ‘named and shamed’ in isolation.                                                                                                 (19688198)
Deputy Barry Brehaut, who resigned from the former Health and Social Services Department after the death of a baby at the hospital, says that the manner in which the midwives had been singled out had troubled him for some time. He and former nurses’ union representative Sandra James, pictured lower right, have both questioned why the midwives involved in the cases concerning the deaths of two babies have been so publicly ‘named and shamed’ in isolation. (19688198) / Guernsey Press

A senior political figure and a former nurses’ union representative have both questioned why the midwives involved in the cases have been so publicly ‘named and shamed’ while nothing has yet been said about the consultants’ and medical professionals’ roles in what happened in 2012 and 2014.

Deputy Barry Brehaut, who resigned along with the rest of the Health and Social Services Department board after the death of the second baby, said midwives did not work in isolation.

‘Care is delivered by a number of health professionals, but as yet what do we know about the role of those other than the midwives? In truth, very little,’ he said.

Former deputy and former nurse specialist Sandra James, also a past chairwoman of the Royal College of Nursing Council, agreed that the midwives had been named, shamed and humiliated publicly.

You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.