The following blog is from Medical Director, Dr Andrew Loughney, and has been written in response to the story of Emma, which was published on the Big Up the NHS Network:
"This is baby Dotty. She was delivered 10 days ago at Milton Keynes General Hospital (I also work there as a midwife). Me and Dotty didn't have the easiest of pregnancies and to be honest, sometimes we confounded a few professionals we came across.
I suffer from asthma, bronchiectasis and an aspergillus allergy. I also developed a pulmonary embolism and pneumonia and possible allergic broncho pulmonary aspergillosis at around 26 weeks of pregnancy. The problem I encountered is that for a while nobody knew what to deal with first but thanks to an extensive team I'm all ok and Dotty is safe. She was delivered three weeks early due to ongoing issues with movements but she is safe.
So who looked after me. Three respiratory consultants were involved with their teams as I was a bit of an oddity, paramedical and the A&E team at the point where I thought I was having an asthma attack, an emergency outpatients team, I had a VQ scan, 2 USS on my legs, a CTPA and al of these were also reviewed by consultants, I was admitted to hospital for 11 days so also was cared for by countless nurses, porters who transported me everywhere I needed to go with oxygen, domestic staff who always were ready with a smile and a joke, the HCAs...then there was haematology (who are still involved), the dietician, the catering staff who were trying to make sure I was well fed on a ward that wouldn't usually have me. On top of that there was the obstetric team and the theatre staff who were there for Dotty's caesarean.
If it wasn't for our NHS I dread to think what would have happened. I was very ill, collapsing at home, unable to maintain oxygen saturation and trying to carry my baby. The cost of my care will run into the tens of thousands but making sure I had the right care wasn't an issue. So right now I'm proud to work as a midwife for this amazing organisation and incredibly grateful to the vast amount of staff who cared for me"
Dr Andrew Loughney comments:
It is because of people like Emma that midwives, nurses and doctors at Liverpool Women's believe we need to make changes.
There are several aspects of Emma’s care that could not have been provided at Liverpool Women’s. All of the care for her complicated lung disease would have had to take place at the Royal or Aintree, including the care around her emergency admission, her investigations when she had a pulmonary embolism and her reviews by specialised chest physicians.
To keep her and her baby safe, from a maternity point of view, she would have had to be seen regularly at Liverpool Women’s; at times these journeys between her home and the different hospitals could have been by public transport but at other times, hospital taxis or ambulance journeys would probably have been needed.
From the sound of things, the delivery of her baby would probably have been at Liverpool Women’s, unless her chest was particularly bad at that time. In some rare cases if the medical condition is still unstable we do have to deliver babies by caesarean at the Royal, by taking a team of obstetricians and midwives (and possibly neonatal staff) across the city.
We also do have many cases in which a mother with a medical condition has to be separated from her baby after the birth, because of the unusual setup of hospitals in Liverpool, but for Emma, that would only have happened if her chest condition had become particularly bad after the birth.
For more information click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV2-_1uQ384&feature=youtu.be