£95million to boost maternity care after the Shrewsbury baby scandal

ThE nhS will spend nearly £100million on maternity services following the Shrewsbury care scandal, it announced yesterday.

At the end of last year, an independent inquiry found babies’ skulls were fractured due to poor care, and medical staff at a hospital trust blamed grieving mothers for the deaths of their children.

now, nhS England has committed to investing £95million to boost numbers of midwives and doctors in hospitals, increase training for staff and enhance the safety culture on maternity units.

The announcement has been hailed by experts, who said it will be a ‘ significant boost’ for under-resourced and understaffed maternity services.

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, nhS England’s chief midwifery officer, said: ‘The funding means we can build on and accelerate progress and make maternity services in England safer and better for women, babies and their families.’

The inquiry into deaths and allegations of poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital Trust was set up in 2017. It is reviewing 1,862 cases, making it the ‘largest number of clinical reviews undertaken relating to a single service, as part of an inquiry, in the history of the nhS’.

The report released in December 2020, compiled by former senior midwife Donna ockenden, revealed problems dating back decades – including how some women were medicated and forced to undergo traumatic deliveries and a ‘reported lack of kindness and compassion from’ staff.

Dr Edward Morris, of the Royal College of obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the ockenden report was a ‘wake-up call’ and he was delighted with the new funding.