Striking junior doctor rushed away from picket line for emergency c-section

An on-strike junior doctor had to rush away from the picket line to have an emergency caesarian section after her babyboy stopped moving.

Adele Holland, 28, was 36-weeks pregnant when she joined dozens of other doctors for a protest near the Haymarket Memorial Clock Tower in Leicester city centre on Wednesday (10/2) afternoon.

But after spending four hours waving placards and talking to members of the public at the ‘Meet the Doctors’ demonstration she realised her baby had stopped moving around.

Panicking, she got in her car and drove two miles to Leicester Royal Infirmary where a scan revealed she had virtually no amniotic fluid left in her uterus and the baby needed to be delivered immediately.

She was rushed to theatre where she was given a general anaesthetic and following a two-hour operation she gave birth to baby boy Harry -weighing 5lbs 11oz.

The little boy couldn’t breathe for the first six minutes of his life but doctors managed to save him and he suffered no lasting damage.

Mum and baby are now both doing well in hospital.

Speaking from her hospital bed today (Sat), mum-of-two Adele from Syston, Leics., – who has been a doctor at Leicester Royal Infirmary since 2012 – said: “I was only planning to stay at the picket line for half an hour.

“But I ended up staying longer because I was trying to explain to people why we were on strike and how important it is.

“After a while I realised I hadn’t felt him (the baby) move for a while and I had a feeling something wasn’t right.

“He had stopped moving around and all I could feel was flutters – which I was later told can mean a baby has died.

“I rang the maternity assessment unit and was told to go in straight away, so I packed up my placards and rushed in.

“Within 30 minutes I had seen two consultants who said there was virtually no fluid around the baby who had to be delivered straight away.

“Hearing those words was really scary.”

She went into theatre at around 8pm and after she woke, her boyfriend – and Harry’s dad – James Wilson, 26, told her about the chaos during the delivery.

Adele, who also has a two-year-old daughter with charity fundraiser James, added: “Harry was distressed on delivery and didn’t breathe for six minutes.

“James said doctors and paediatricians were rushing around to help getting him breathing.

“I’m so glad I didn’t witness that.

“I’m very, very lucky that everything turned out ok.

“I didn’t even realise my waters had broke.

“My own experience is evidence that strike action doesn’t affect patient safety.

“The care I have received has been unbelievable and the strike action made no difference to my emergency care.

“It’s frustrating when you have spent so long listening to people saying that by striking junior doctors are putting patients at risk.

“It is so sad and not fair to hear that the junior doctors are putting patient safety at risk.

“I don’t see the NHS surviving more than a couple of years now under the terms of the new doctors’ contract.”