Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT) recorded 151 maternity red flag events at the Romford hospital in 2024-2025, according to data obtained by Blackwater Law in a Freedom of Information request.
This is up from 79 red flag events in 2023-2024, and just three events the year before.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) defined these incidents as a “warning sign” that something may be wrong with midwifery staffing.
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Red flag events can include delayed or cancelled time-critical activity, missed medication during an admission to hospital, a delay of more than 30 minutes in providing pain relief and delayed recognition of abnormal vital signs.
Any occasion when one midwife is not able to provide continuous one-to-one care and support to a woman during labour is also defined as a red flag event, according to NICE.
Medical negligence solicitors Blackwater Law said the “sharp increase” in these events is a “concern”.
Jason Brady, partner at the firm, said: “Each one represents an urgent patient safety incident when a mother’s care during labour or shortly after birth may be unsafe.
“While some of these incidents may be resolved without harm, others could cause serious harm for mothers and babies.”
However, BHRUT assured women in east London that the increase “does not reflect a rising risk” for them and their babies, and instead relates to “potential staffing concerns”.
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Chief nurse Nic Kane told this paper: “Reporting of these incidents increased dramatically after we introduced additional teaching sessions to ensure our midwives were recording them accurately.
“While we, like hospitals across the country, are impacted by a shortage of midwives, we have recruited 164 midwives since 2021, with seven more due to join us soon.”
Once the new midwives join the trust, its vacancy rate in the maternity department at Queen’s will reduce from 10.64 to 3.64 full time equivalents.
BHRUT chief executive Matthew Trainer previously told this paper that the maternity unit is under “really high pressure” – and that he doubted it would achieve a ‘good’ CQC rating when its next inspection report is published.
However, he stressed that the department is safe and said that more midwives are working at the trust than ever before.
