Lagan Valley: Mother of stillborn boy 'did not feel safe in unit'

Christine McCleery's son Jaxon was stillborn in March 2017

A mother whose son was stillborn has said she did not feel safe when problems arose during delivery at the Lagan Valley Hospital Midwifery Led Unit.

Christine McCleery's son Jaxon McVey was born dead at the Royal Victoria Hospital in March 2017 after she was transferred from Lagan Valley Hospital.

She had developed a complication known as shoulder dystocia.

It means the baby becomes stuck during the final stages of labour.

The South Eastern Health Trust announced on Thursday that births at the unit are being temporarily paused because "concerns have been raised about a very small number of cases who have birthed in the unit".

Jaxon's stillbirth has already been the subject of a review and is not one of the cases which has led to births being paused at the unit, but Ms McCleery said she believed it should have happened earlier.

"There were only actually two midwives in the unit that night - the two delivering Jaxon and a support worker," she said.

"They didn't have anybody in the unit to call for help, they actually had to use my other half to help with some of the manoeuvres which was quite difficult because it was a stressful situation for all of us.

"Did I feel safe in the Lagan Valley when this was occurring? Absolutely not.

"The Lagan Valley just don't have the resources there to do, the fact there wasn't other health and medical staff that they could call upon on that night to support with the emergency, it's just not good enough."

The South Eastern Health Trust announced on Thursday that births at the unit are being temporarily paused

A serious adverse incident review was carried out after Jaxon was stillborn.

"It highlights some failings right from my booking appointment at 12 weeks where personal details of mine were incorrectly recorded which had an impact on measurements of the baby making it difficult to discover his actual size," she said.

She described the decision to pause deliveries at Lagan Valley Hospital as "unexpected" but added that she welcomed the move.

"It's very important that this doesn't happen to anybody else, there is nothing in anybody's life that will ever compare to the feeling of losing a child or a baby," she said.

"It did make me question and I did query why now? This showcases to me there has been other incidents, why has there been other incidents?

"What happened to Jaxon was a tragedy."

The South Eastern Health Trust said it had nothing further to add when asked for a response to Ms McCleery's case.