Mother shares devastating loss in bid to force NHS Scotland to introduce life-saving pre-eclampsia test

An at-risk mum was repeatedly sent home 36 weeks into her pregnancy – despite signs of pre-eclampsia.

On her third return to hospital and hours after being induced, Lynsey Hamilton, 34, was told there was no sign of her baby’s heartbeat.

Doctors were forced to save her life as her blood pressure reached potentially-lethal levels.

Now Lynsey is sharing her devastating loss of baby daughter Carys in a bid to force NHS Scotland to provide a life-saving test – that costs just £70 – to mothers at risk of pre-eclampsia.

Plea to raise awareness of risk of deadly illnesses in women with pre-eclampsia

Lynsey said: “The moment you see those two lines on your pregnancy test you know your life has changed forever. You put everything you have into making sure your baby arrives healthy. To get to over 37 weeks and then lose your baby is beyond painful. Our lives have changed forever, and I only hope by speaking up that others are spared the pain we carry.”

Lynsey, who is a serving Scottish Labour councillor for Clydesdale West on South Lanarkshire Council, is calling for NHS Scotland to roll out the Placental Growth Factor (PlGF) test which would have revealed her condition.

Tests still not available

Despite the test being approved for Scotland three months after Lynsey lost her baby daughter, she is angry that health boards across the country have still not made it available for at-risk mothers like her.

Lynsey said: “There simply is no excuse for not making this test available. I am acutely aware that if I had been given that test, the medical team would have known I was suffering pre-eclampsia, Carys would have been born earlier and we would not be mourning her for the rest of our lives.

“If that test had been made available in Scotland at the same time it was in England, I believe I would have been induced and given birth weeks before my baby died inside me.”

This thread is very important, this is beyond politics, it's about saving the lives of babies and mothers, about preventing further heartbreak and trauma.

Thank you @MonicaLennon7 ❤️ https://t.co/ods9qztnnu

— Lynsey Hamilton (@L_Hamilton89) June 2, 2024

Lynsey suffered pre-eclampsia symptoms with her first baby daughter. Erin, who is now almost four. She said: “I had all the symptoms, high blood pressure and protein in my urine. But, because Erin was born early at 34 weeks, she was fine. When I began suffering those same symptoms plus vomiting and severe headaches with Carys at almost 36 weeks, the alarm bells should have been ringing and she should have been delivered.”

Instead, Lynsey was admitted to Wishaw General on Christmas Day 2022, and then sent home again. She was told by a junior doctor to return three days later. On December 28, she was told by another junior doctor to return five days later despite her continuing symptoms. When she was admitted for the third time on January 3, 2023, it was the first time she had seen a registrar and a consultant.

She said: “Carys always moved at the same time every night. When it came to that time and I couldn’t feel her moving, I knew something was wrong. Suddenly there was a panic amid the chaos of the busy hospital. I was told they could not find Carys’s heartbeat. The next thing, they were battling to save my life because my blood pressure was through the roof.”

© Supplied

Baby Carys was stillborn on January 4, and Lynsey, and her husband Bradley McLay, 35, say they will never get over the pain of their loss.

Lynsey said: “We were able to spend some time with Carys, and Erin was able to see her, so she understands that she had a baby sister. But the pain of losing Carys will always be with us. I want to see every at-risk mother being given the test. I don’t want to see this happening to any other family.”

Cheryl Clark, director of midwifery at NHS Lanarkshire, said: “Our thoughts remain with Lynsey and her family. Implementation of PIGF testing is currently under consideration within NHS Lanarkshire.”

Scottish Labour’s women’s health champion Monica Lennon MSP attacked First Minister John Swinney over his government’s failure to ensure the P1GF test was made available after he fobbed off questions over when health boards will roll-out the test.

She said: “I don’t want to hear one more excuse about women’s health issue failures and putting things off with yet another scoping exercise. We are now well over a year since this test became available and if England and Wales can get it rolled out, why can’t we?

“We’ve just had World Pre-eclampsia Day, and the First Minister’s excuse will not reassure anyone. The government are on the back foot now because of the pressure they are being put under by the Sunday Post campaign.

“Women and babies have been put at risk, and sadly some have died.

“This is urgent. We can’t wait for the results of yet another scoping exercise. That test must be rolled out now.”