Dr Lorna Phelan

Dr Lorna Phelan is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and expert witness at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, where she has served as a Consultant since 2004. Her principal areas of clinical expertise include intrapartum care, high-risk obstetrics, fetal monitoring, obstetric ultrasound, prenatal diagnosis and clinical governance, with particular interests in maternity safety and risk management.

With over two decades of consultant experience, Dr Phelan provides comprehensive care for women with both routine and complex pregnancies, specialising in the assessment and management of high-risk obstetric conditions. Her clinical practice encompasses labour ward care, induction of labour, caesarean section, fetal surveillance, obstetric ultrasound and the diagnosis and management of fetal abnormalities, placental disorders and pregnancy complications, including pre-eclampsia. She has extensive expertise in the interpretation of antenatal and intrapartum cardiotocography (CTG) and plays a leading role in multidisciplinary education to improve fetal monitoring and clinical decision-making.

Alongside her clinical practice, Dr Phelan has held several senior leadership roles in maternity governance, including responsibility for labour ward services, audit, simulation training and maternity risk management. These roles, combined with her ongoing teaching in fetal monitoring and obstetric safety, reinforce her standing as an experienced authority in modern obstetric practice.

Dr Lorna Phelan has undertaken medico legal work since 2017, providing independent expert opinion in clinical negligence cases involving obstetric and maternity care. She accepts both claimant and defendant instructions and prepares screening and advisory, breach of duty, causation, and condition and prognosis reports.

Her medico legal practice is centred on the management of pregnancy, labour and delivery, with particular expertise in high-risk obstetrics, intrapartum care, fetal monitoring, obstetric ultrasound and maternity risk management. She is regularly instructed on cases involving fetal surveillance, CTG interpretation, labour ward management, operative delivery, obstetric decision-making and the recognition and management of pregnancy complications. As Divisional Lead for medico-legal cases within her NHS Trust, she has extensive experience supporting complex claims and has attended Coroner's Court as the Trust witness. Her Bond Solon Expert Witness Certificate further supports her delivery of clear, objective and well-reasoned expert evidence.

Dr Phelan’s current clinical practice centres on the care of women with complex pregnancies, with a particular focus on high-risk obstetrics, intrapartum care and fetal surveillance. She is closely involved in the assessment and management of maternal and fetal complications throughout pregnancy and labour, including the investigation of fetal growth concerns, placental abnormalities, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and other conditions requiring specialist obstetric input.

A significant proportion of her clinical work involves the interpretation of antenatal and intrapartum cardiotocography (CTG), supporting timely clinical decision-making to optimise maternal and fetal outcomes. She also performs obstetric ultrasound, including fetal anatomical assessment, prenatal diagnosis and the evaluation of fetal wellbeing, and manages women requiring induction of labour, intrauterine procedures and operative delivery.

Alongside direct patient care, Dr Phelan plays an active role in improving maternity safety through multidisciplinary education in fetal monitoring and the application of human factors principles to obstetric practice. Her expertise combines advanced clinical decision-making with a strong emphasis on evidence-based care, patient safety and the management of complex obstetric presentations across the antenatal, intrapartum and immediate postnatal periods.

Dr Phelan has contributed to obstetric research in areas including pregnancy complications, prenatal care and fetal medicine, with publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is an experienced educator, delivering teaching for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and NHS Resolution, with particular expertise in fetal monitoring, obstetric practice and the role of clinicians in legal proceedings.