Birthrights has written once again to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) cautiously welcoming moves to review its policy of sending women who ask for a maternal request caesarean to other Trusts.
Lawyers acting for Birthrights wrote to the Trust in July last year, asking detailed questions about how OUH responded to requests from women for a caesarean, where there was no clinical indication (maternal request), after receiving more complaints about OUH’s policy than any other Trust in the country. After a further intervention by our Chair, Elizabeth Prochaska, we received a response in January.
Programmes Director, Maria Booker, commented:
“Although we continue to have concerns that the picture painted by OUH does not match the accounts we have heard from local women, we are nevertheless pleased to hear that OUH is actively consulting its obstetric team, and considering the option of carrying out maternal request caesareans onsite at the John Radcliffe. We urge OUH to follow the example of Birmingham Women’s and others who have worked together with service users and staff to create a policy that puts women’s needs first whilst also respecting the views of staff. We look forward to receiving a comprehensive update on progress.”
The letter sent to OUH on behalf of Birthrights on the 26th March 2019 can be found here and previous correspondence is below: