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Background: Haemorrhage in pregnancy may be life‐threatening to woman and infant. The impact of severe obstetric haemorrhage can be reduced by detecting high‐risk women, implementing guidelines and treatment plans, early detection of hypovolaemia and timely appropriate treatment. Aims: To describe cases of severe maternal morbidity caused by obstetric haemorrhage in New Zealand and investigate the potential preventability of these cases. Materials and Methods: A multidisciplinary expert review panel was established to review cases of obstetric haemorrhage admitted to intensive care or high‐dependency units over an 18‐month span in New Zealand. Cases were critically analysed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians to determine the potential preventability. Results: One hundred and twenty cases were identified, most commonly due to postpartum haemorrhage with 36% (n = 43) deemed potentially preventable, mainly due to delay or failure of diagnosis (65%, 28/43) and/or failure or delay in treatment (91%, 39/43). Twenty‐three per cent of cases (28/120) resulted in peripartum hysterectomy of which one‐third were deemed potentially preventable. Conclusions: Prompt recognition and treatment in accordance with evidence‐based guidelines is imperative to decrease the burden of morbidity from obstetric haemorrhage. An emphasis on training clinicians to identify haemorrhage in a timely way may avoid unnecessary obstetric emergencies and can improve maternity and neonatal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pre‐eclampsia and related sequelae are a leading cause of severe maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. A significant proportion of these poor outcomes may be preventable with improvements along the continuum of maternal and neonatal care. Aims: The aim of this study was to review cases of pre‐eclampsia resulting in severe maternal morbidity, describing the maternal and neonatal outcomes and the potential preventability of severe maternal morbidity (SMM). Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of cases of SMM associated with severe pre‐eclampsia – a subset of a national SMM review study. Inclusion criteria for this subset were women who were pregnant or within 42 days of delivery with severe pre‐eclampsia as the main reason for admission to an intensive care unit or high dependency unit in New Zealand between 1 August 2013 and 31 January 2015 inclusive. A multidisciplinary expert panel reviewed cases for preventability using a validated preventability tool. Results: Of the 89 severe morbidities that were reviewed, 10 had eclampsia (11%) and there were four neonatal mortalities (4.3%). Multidisciplinary committees assessed the severe morbidity as potentially preventable in 31% (28) of cases with the majority due to delays in diagnosis and suboptimal treatment. Conclusion: We found a high level of preventable morbidity in cases of severe pre‐eclampsia with a concerning number of preventable eclampsia. Implementation of evidence‐based guidelines reinforced with education would assist clinicians to improve risk recognition, timely diagnosis and treatment and decrease potentially preventable severe morbidity associated with pre‐eclampsia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]