\n 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.\n<\/p>\n
\n This is up from 79 red flag events in 2023-2024, and just three events the year before.\n<\/p>\n
\n The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) defined these incidents as a “warning sign” that something may be wrong with midwifery staffing.\n<\/p>\n
\n READ MORE:\u00a0Romford baby death: Mum felt ‘dismissed’ by Queen’s Hospital<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n 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.\n<\/p>\n \n 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.\n<\/p>\n \n Medical negligence solicitors Blackwater Law said the “sharp increase” in these events is a “concern”.\n<\/p>\n \n Jason Brady, partner at the firm,\u00a0said: “Each one represents an urgent patient safety incident when a mother\u2019s care during labour or shortly after birth may be unsafe.\n<\/p>\n \n “While some of these incidents may be resolved without harm, others could cause serious harm for mothers and babies.”\n<\/p>\n \n 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”.\n<\/p>\n