Essex hospitals introduce Bounty photo opt-out scheme

Bounty photographers take pictures of newborns on NHS maternity wards and encourage parents to buy the images

A hospital trust is to give mothers the chance to "opt-out" of having their newborn babies photographed.

Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust is introducing a card system following a complaint about Bounty reps, who take pictures on maternity wards.

The trust runs Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, St Peter's Hospital in Maldon and St Michael's Hospital in Braintree.

A Bounty spokeswoman said the company was "happy to support the initiative".

The move follows a campaign by Steve Lay, of Great Baddow, Chelmsford, who said new parents should not be targeted by "predatory" photographers as they lay in their hospital beds.

Ipswich Hospital introduced a similar system last month, in which cards indicating whether or not mothers are happy to be approached by Bounty are placed by their beds.

Mr Lay and his family were "targeted" by Bounty staff at Chelmsford's Broomfield Hospital, which is run by Mid Essex Hospital Trust

Mr Lay first encountered a "Bounty lady" in 2015, shortly after his partner Julie Hunter had given birth to their son.

He said the woman "barged in" to Ms Hunter's cubicle at Broomfield Hospital and tried to sell the couple a photography package.

"When you're laying there at your most vulnerable, you don't expect to be targeted or pestered by a sales team," he said.

Ahead of his second child's arrival in December, Mr Lay wrote to Bounty to opt out of the scheme, citing General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules, which control what personal data companies can have access to.

He also liaised with the maternity team at Broomfield Hospital, who agreed a card system was a good idea.

The trust confirmed the scheme would be implemented imminently.

Bounty says its staff are DBS checked and trained in hospital hygiene standards

"It's a little bit of a victory," Mr Lay said.

"If it's reasonable for Chelmsford to introduce an opt-out system, it should be reasonable for everywhere to do it."

A spokeswoman for Bounty, which has worked with the NHS for more than 60 years, said it "supports and acknowledges the need to respect the privacy and dignity of families on the maternity ward".

She added: "We work closely with the NHS to ensure our services are offered on the basis of choice and that they comply with the standards required by our hospital partners."