A London hospital has admitted starting a caesarean without giving a pregnant woman adequate pain relief.

London: A woman has been awarded $55,000 after a London hospital began a caesarean without giving her adequate pain relief.

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust paid the money after admitting the woman was not given enough anaesthetic when surgeons at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich cut her open to deliver her first child.

The patient was admitted to hospital in labour in January 2013 and had been given an epidural.

Nearly two hours into the birth, it was decided a caesarean was needed and the epidural was removed, but the woman was given no additional anaesthetic before the surgery started.

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When the operation began, the woman felt excruciating pain from the surgeon's knife, and only then was she given more pain relief.

The claimant, who has since had a second child, was represented by Patricia Wakeford, a dual-qualified midwife and solicitor.

Ms Wakeford said since the caesarean her client had suffered from frequent nightmares and anxiety and had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

PA