A Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed that Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust paid over £10.8 million in compensation related to maternity, pre-natal, and post-natal care between and , encompassing 21 individual claims. This disclosure comes as a woman, Kirsty Almeida, shares her decade-long struggle following a traumatic birth experience at North Manchester General Hospital in .
Almeida, 49, from Hebden Bridge, alleges that she suffered severe physical injuries, including fourth-degree lacerations, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during the birth of her son. She describes a progression from a calm, planned low-intervention birth to a situation where she felt unsafe, disorganised, and repeatedly ignored when expressing her wishes to avoid interventions like forceps and episiotomy. She alleges that interventions were ultimately performed against her explicit refusal, with staff physically restraining her during the delivery.
The Trust has not commented on the specifics of Almeida’s account. She states that despite seeking her full medical records for years, she faced delays and dismissals of her concerns. When records were eventually released, she claims they were characterized in a way that minimized her trauma. Her case was subsequently closed, leaving her feeling “erased.”
Almeida did not pursue financial compensation, but the FOI data has been profoundly validating for her. “For years I was made to feel like what happened to me wasn’t real,” she stated, “To then discover that nearly £11 million has been paid out for maternity harm by the same Trust… while my own suffering was dismissed is devastating, but also clarifying.”
The impact of the birth experience extended far beyond the physical. Before , Almeida was a professional singer-songwriter signed to a major label, performing internationally. She asserts that the trauma effectively ended her career, leading to loss of income, identity, and a period of homelessness following intensive trauma therapy.
The £10,892,920.10 in payouts, made via NHS Resolution, averages over £500,000 per claim. The FOI response indicates that some yearly data was withheld due to patient identification concerns. The data suggests that a relatively small number of claims resulted in very high payouts, indicating serious incidents with life-changing consequences.
The rising costs of medical negligence, particularly in maternity cases, are a growing concern within the National Health Service (NHS). Recent data from October indicates that the NHS’s total liabilities for medical negligence have reached £60 billion, quadrupling from £14.4 billion in . The average childbirth injury case now costs more than £11 million to settle. In , GP services accounted for the largest number of settled cases – 2,914.
Almeida hopes her story will prompt wider questions about how maternity trauma is handled and recorded, how many women may be discouraged from pursuing legal action, and whether the compensation figures reflect a larger, under-reported problem. She emphasizes that her motivation is not financial, but a pursuit of truth and validation for herself and others who have experienced similar trauma.
Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust was contacted for comment on , regarding the concerns raised. The Trust stated it did not operate North Manchester General Hospital at the time of the events and referred the request to Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. Further contact was made with both Trusts on and , but no substantive response was received before the publication deadline.
The case highlights the significant financial and personal costs associated with maternity care negligence and underscores the need for improved safety measures and more responsive support for women who experience birth trauma.
