'Maternity inquiry should go back further in time'

Leanne Plaice wants the proposed Leeds maternity inquiry to go back as far as 2009 when her son Harry was born

A mother has called for an independent inquiry into maternity care failures at Leeds hospitals to go back further in time and include more families.

Leanne Plaice underwent a traumatic labour at St James's Hospital when giving birth to her son Harry, now 16, in 2009.

The BBC has spoken to more than 70 families who say they experienced poor care, including parents who say their babies died as a result.

Ms Plaice said Harry's birth had a lasting effect on her after he suffered oxygen deprivation and doctors said he might not survive.

Recalling the birth, she said: "I'm really small in stature and I have a really tall husband, so it was kind of decided that it was absolutely fine to go with natural birth if that's what I'm comfortable with but should any issue happen the next step would be emergency C-section.

"I was pushing for an hour and a half, but I came to learn afterwards that even from me starting to push Harry had already gone into distress."

Harry was born at St James's Hospital in Leeds in 2009

Mrs Plaice was classed as high risk because her baby was big and her birth plan made it clear she needed a C-section in the event of complications.

During her labour she said a locum doctor used forceps against her wishes before a C-section was finally agreed to.

She was then given an overdose of anaesthetic that paralysed her arm and left her unable to communicate.

"It was far too much. I couldn't lift my arm and it had gone higher than my mouth so I couldn't even speak to let them know there was something wrong," she said.

The anaesthetic had to be drained causing further delays. By the time Harry was born he wasn't breathing and his brain had swollen, she said.

"I was screaming thinking nobody was telling me whether he was dead or alive. He'd been rushed off to neonatal. They thought I was about to have a heart attack."

Although Harry was later found to be healthy, it was not until he was five years old that it was confirmed that he had not sustained permanent brain damage.

However, his mother underwent counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suffered permanent nerve damage.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals chief medical officer Dr Magnus Harrison said the care Mrs Plaice received was unacceptable and the trust was "deeply sorry".

He added: "We investigated the care Mrs Plaice and Harry received at the time and unreservedly apologised for the mistakes that were made; however, we fully appreciate this will never undo the distress the family felt at the time and continue to feel.

"The full scope of the new independent inquiry has yet to be determined by the government; we are committed to working openly, honestly and transparently with the inquiry team and with families who have used our services.

"Improving our maternity and neonatal services is our absolute priority, and we are absolutely committed to ensuring every family receives safe, compassionate, inclusive and high-quality care."

Harry is now 16 but Mrs Plaice said the experience had a lasting effect on her and the family

Last month, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced an independent inquiry into what he called "catastrophic failures" at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

He said: "I cannot ignore that in Leeds we've got one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe.

"The data shows it to be a real outlier in terms of perinatal mortality and when I look at the scale of the challenge and the failures over many years now, I cannot ignore the compelling case that the families and the data have made for a Nottingham-style independent inquiry."

Ms Plaice said she hoped more families would come forward to share their stories.

"They knew this was a problem in 2009, recognised there was a problem, and clearly haven't learnt from their mistakes and haven't put the things in place they promised that they would as part of our apology, because if anything it's got worse," she said.

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