Serious safety issues have been uncovered at a branch of one of the UK’s largest abortion providers after inspections by the care watchdog.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an investigation at BPAS’ Merseyside clinic and found numerous deficiencies, including no robust system for checking defibrillators.
The CQC’s report comes a month after it revealed that Marie Stopes abortion clinics were ‘unsafe and uncaring’.
Serious incidents
Its latest report, based on inspections in May and June, said infection control procedures were “not always followed in theatre”.
The CQC also reported that there was “no effective system in place” to ensure resuscitation equipment was regularly checked.
And it described how the local NHS trust had carried out a review after 16 “serious incidents” relating to the facility had occurred over three years.
Children
The report noted that BPAS Merseyside, which also carries out STD screening, had performed nearly 5,000 abortions between January 2015 and March 2016.
It added that in 2015, the Liverpool-based centre had “treated 77 children between the ages of 13 and 15 years old”.
Pro-life group Life, which first reported the CQC’s findings, raised concerns over a bias in favour of the abortion industry, and called on the Government to act.
‘Callous’
Clara Watson from the charity said: “Yet again we are confronted with shocking revelations about the callous disregard for health and safety by another member of the abortion industry.”
She added: “In the education sector schools would be closed if there were safety risks to children. Why is an exception being made for the abortion industry when the health and safety of women are at risk?”
“We call on the government to move beyond words and act now to protect women”.
Breaches
In December, the CQC highlighted more than 2,600 serious incidents in Marie Stopes clinics in 2015.
Doctors in a Norwich clinic were found to have ‘bulk signed’ up to 60 certification forms at a time, showing little indication that they were familiar with the women’s circumstances.
In South London, inadequately trained nurses and healthcare assistants were left to obtain women’s consent for abortions, despite not understanding the procedure themselves and so being unable to answer questions – breaching national guidelines.