A mother-of-six who lives near Gainsborough was awarded a damages settlement of £10,000 as a piece of placenta was left inside her after giving birth at Lincoln County Hospital.

The 30-year-old woman, who wished to remain anonymous, suffered an infection, blood loss and pain which made it difficult to bond with her baby girl, who was born on May 26, 2018.

A medical negligence claim was made against United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

Despite telling midwives that she felt something was wrong at the time, the woman was discharged from Lincoln County Hospital and assured there had been no complications.

However, the woman, who had experienced a similar issue after a previous birth, said the pain caused her to struggle with her new baby at home.

The woman’s solicitor from Hudgell Solicitors said hospital notes stated that the placenta had been delivered five minutes after birth.

However, she suffered constant pains and bleeding and was reviewed at Scunthorpe General Hospital on June 12.

A scan then confirmed a 6cm piece of placenta had been left inside her. She underwent surgery to remove it the next day, but remained in pain and continued to lose blood.

A further scan on June 22 confirmed part of the placenta still remained, but she had to wait until August 20 for another operation, in which the remaining section was removed.

The mother wanted to share her story after a recent YouGov survey into maternity care and birth injury, which highlighted how some mothers feel their concerns are too easily dismissed.

The joint piece of research, commissioned by Hudgell Solicitors and the mother and baby charity Baby Lifeline, showed a quarter of mums were left feeling unsatisfied with the support they received before, during or after giving birth.

Lincoln County Hospital (left) and Scunthorpe General Hospital (right). | Photo: Steve Smailes/The Lincolnite

The Lincolnshire mum said: “It was hard because I couldn’t really do much, I felt bad because I needed family and friends to help look after my baby girl.

“I couldn’t hold her for very long because of the pain. I couldn’t bend down or pick her up to change her or anything like that. It felt like I lost a lot of bonding time with her when she was a baby.

“When I was told I had to have another operation, as they hadn’t got all the placenta out the first time, I was annoyed and it left me having to go back in and be messed about with again. It was another delay when I was still in pain.

“When the scan showed the piece of placenta inside me I felt mad because I warned them after I gave birth that I had the same feeling that I’d had with my previous birth, when it also happened then.

“But I just got ignored and they were just saying ‘it’s normal, it’s fine’. Because I went through it previously I knew that my instincts were right, but all I kept getting told was ‘we’ve checked the placenta, it’s fine, there’s nothing there’.

“When I was on the wards and said I was in pain it felt like they just ignored me. I also told the midwife when she came a couple of days after I had been sent home that I’d lost loads of blood clots, but they just shrugged it off and said it was normal.”

The woman instructed Hudgell Solicitors to look at her case and a medical negligence claim was made against United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

Sarah Colgrave, a solicitor in the Clinical Negligence team at Hudgell Solicitors, issued a list of allegations that she said “amounted to breaches of care on behalf of the NHS Trusts” and resulted in “unnecessary suffering” for the mother.

The solicitors said overall liability was denied and the Trusts only collectively admitted to a breach of duty of care in relation to a delay in arranging the second surgery to remove the placenta.

After indicating an intention to take the case before a judge in court, the Trusts returned with a five-figure damages offer which was accepted by the woman.

Peter Reading, Chief Executive at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We apologise for the delay this patient experienced waiting for their second operation and are pleased that this has now been settled.”

The Lincolnite also contacted United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust for a statement and are awaiting a response.

Lincolnshire Police said that four cases of drink spiking have been reported to them after incidents in Lincoln so far this month.

The four reports were for drink spiking rather than needle injection, which has also allegedly become a growing issue in bars and nightclubs.

It comes as a social media campaign has emerged calling for a boycott of venues on Wednesday, October 27 to raise awareness of the issue and to demand change.

Girls Night In Lincoln was set up this week to join the national boycott, and has amassed close to 1,000 followers already.

People have been anonymously sharing their stories of when they believe they were spiked on a night out, and the account has been posting about what they feel needs to happen to combat the issue.

There are calls for greater repercussions for abusers, as well as training for nightclub staff and a response from government, as a petition asking for thorough searches at nightclub entries has reached over 150,000 signatures.

A spokesperson for the Girls Night In account told The Lincolnite that they hope to “create better safeguards” and want to see the issue tackled “more seriously”.

“After a year of significant attention in the media about the violence subjected to women this is another movement that highlights the severity of this issue. Although spiking impacts more women than men it is still a universal issue regardless of gender.”

Venues across the city have been implementing a number of procedures to try to address the issues surrounding drink spiking, such as The Strait and Narrow which has reiterated that it was the first bar in the world to run the Ask For Angela scheme.

Home Lincoln and its sister businesses Moka, Bierkeller and Void have introduced testing kits to see if you have a spiked drink, as well as toppers to put over drinks and block any potential spiking.

Another free shuttle bus service is being introduced in Lincoln to support those who cannot get to Lincolnshire Showground for their coronavirus vaccinations.

The service will be introduced on Monday, October 25 between 8am and 6pm, lasting two weeks until Friday, November 5.

It will again operate from stand C at Lincoln bus station and leave on the hour, as well as stopping 15 minutes later at the Thonock Close bus stop on Riseholme Road, and picking people up from the Showground for a return journey on the half hour.

People will be required to wear face masks on the shuttle bus, and those who catch the 3pm bus to Lincolnshire Showground for their COVID-19 jab appointment will have to wait until 5.30pm for their return journey.

It was first brought into action in August to respond to Lincoln having the highest infection rate in the whole of the UK, and now it will come back to support the uptake of young people being jabbed.

Natalie Liddle, acting head of service for health protection at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “We know that for some, particularly students and young people who haven’t got easy access to transport, it can be difficult to get up to the Showground for their vaccination.

“This will give easier access for people to get their jab. Just turn up at the bus station at the allotted time to use the service.

“It’s important that if you are eligible for a jab then you take up the chance to get to the Showground. With the shuttle-bus service in place, it’s a quick and easy way to get vaccinated.

“COVID hasn’t gone away – getting the vaccine is the best way to protect yourself and others from infection. We all need to take personal responsibility to do what we can to keep each other as safe as possible and reduce infection rates across the city.”