'Horrific': My caesarean ordeal at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital
A first-time mother whose daughter was born via emergency caesarean section at Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital has described the experience as “horrific”.
Laura Rolinson says a drug error led to her blood pressure spiking to “dangerous levels”.
She was wrongly given ergometrine, a medication used to cause contractions of the uterus to treat heavy bleeding after childbirth.
The 34-year-old, of Lawley, Telford, said it should never have been given to her as she already had high blood pressure and the medication caused it to rise further.
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has apologised, saying any error in administering medication is “unacceptable”.
Miss Rolinson said it took longer than normal for her to come round after the surgery and afterwards she was told an internal investigation would be carried out.
She was discharged three days after her operation following what she called “a struggle to bring down my high blood pressure and temperature”.
Miss Rolinson added: “I was given blood pressure tablets and antibiotics.
“My community midwife was the one who told me that I was given the wrong drug by the anaesthetist and this increased my blood pressure further.
“This is what initiated the internal investigation and my notes showed that it was a traumatic birth.
“It sent my blood pressure to extremely dangerous levels where I could have died.
“I then received a letter from the hospital discharging my daughter.
“It said on it that I had sepsis. I was unaware of this at the time.”
She said she was later told by a midwife that the internal investigation had classed her as a ‘near-miss’ because she had made a good recovery after surgery.
“The doctor involved was given some ‘key learns’ but they felt no further investigation was needed,” Miss Rolinson said.
She said there also seemed to be tension in the delivery room between the consultant and midwives disagreeing about procedures which made her feel uncomfortable, and a trainee had been present, despite her signing papers to say she didn’t want a trainee in attendance.
Speaking about her experience, she said: “It was horrific.
“Never mind the first moments I missed with my daughter, her having antibiotics due to me having sepsis, then trauma I go through every time I go back to the hospital.”
Her daughter Emily, which she had with her partner Luke Edwards, 35, is now 11 months.
She lodged a formal complaint with the trust and claims it is “ridiculous” the investigation was never taken further.
The trust says the locum doctor who was involved in the drug error is no longer employed by SaTH.
Jo Banks, women and children’s care group director at SaTH, said: “Although we cannot comment on individual cases in any detail, I can confirm that we are in contact with Miss Rolinson to discuss her concerns and share with her the findings of inquiries into this matter and the learning we have taken from them.
“Our conversations with Miss Rolinson continue and we most recently met with her earlier this month.
“Any error in administering medication is unacceptable and we have apologised to Miss Rolinson for this.”
