The theme of World Cerebral Palsy Day 2025 is “Unique and United” – focussing on what makes everyone in the cerebral palsy community special.
Based on Moore Barlow’s long-standing support for families affected by cerebral palsy, we know that every family is indeed “unique and united” – each family has their own particular circumstances and challenges to face, but all come together to help support each other and nurture family life.
For any family with a child diagnosed as having cerebral palsy, receiving early information and guidance can make a real difference to navigating the child’s needs and securing appropriate input and support. In addition, securing an explanation and understanding of what has caused the condition is a real and legitimate concern.
The NHS has taken steps to improve maternity care and how it responds to concerns about this, but despite a number of high profile inquiries and investigations, concerns remain about the standard of maternity care that is being provided – as evidenced by the recent announcement of a National Review of Maternity Services by Baroness Amos, whose report is due in Spring 2026 with interim recommendations expected by Christmas 2025:
- the review covers 14 NHS Trusts, some of which have already been the subject of previous investigations
- it will focus on the experiences of affected women and families
- it will explore why previous recommendations have not always achieved their goals and identify ways to urgently improve care and safety
- it will bring together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of actions to ensure that maternity and neonatal care across the country is both safe and high quality
- one focus will be on inequalities in healthcare as some mothers face significantly increased risks of both maternal injury and mortality and complications affecting their child
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/14-nhs-trusts-the-focus-of-national-maternity-investigation
Pregnancy and birth should be celebrated, and whilst the vast majority of maternity care leads to a successful outcome, sometimes sub-standard care during pregnancy and labour can be a potential cause of cerebral palsy and where families have concerns about that, Moore Barlow are there to support those families, to investigate their concerns and assess whether the outcome could have been avoided.
Cerebral palsy describes a wide range of disorders that impact a person’s ability to move, maintain balance and posture, often also impacting on cognitive ability.
It is caused by damage to or abnormal development of a baby’s brain before, during or shortly after birth. Although specific causes cannot always be identified, some of the more common causes are congenital brain malformation, infection, haemorrhage, stroke and lack of oxygen. Some of these causes are unavoidable, but on occasion, can be caused by substandard care such as:
- the wrong advice being given to a mother
- a failure to plan or act appropriately when a pregnancy or labour is becoming more complicated
- a failure to get more senior staff involved when needed
Moore Barlow have advised a large number of families about the merits of their concerns over the maternity care they received, and where appropriate, have guided them through the process of establishing legal liability and bringing a claim for negligence. Moore Barlow work constructively and sympathetically with families affected by cerebral palsy caused by negligent NHS management.
Successfully resolving such claims can be challenging and is always subject to expert medical and other opinions on both liability and a child’s prognosis and future care needs which cannot always be accurately assessed in their early years.
Moor Barlow can offer Legal Aid to investigate a potential claim and have particular expertise in securing admissions of liability and significant interim and definitive compensation awards for affected clients.
We are happy to discuss any concerns and offer a free no obligation enquiry service if you feel you would like to speak to a solicitor about a potential claim.
