Detectives to probe deaths of babies at hospital
DETECTIVES HAVE launched an investigation following a number of baby deaths at a hospital in the North of England in the wake of concerns over inadequate staffing levels.
Cheshire Constabulary confirmed yesterday that the inquiry was under way following “a greater number of baby deaths and collapses” at the Countess of Chester Hospital between June 2015 and June last year. The probe will focus on the deaths of eight babies but will also review seven further deaths and six non-fatal collapses which happened during the yearlong period.
Detective Chief Superintendent Nigel Wenham confirmed The Countess of Chester Hospital Foundation Trust had contacted Cheshire Police this month, and stressed the investigation is still in its “very early stages”.
He added: “We recognise that this investigation will have a significant impact on all of the families involved, staff and patients at the hospital and the public. Parents of the babies are being updated on the investigation and will be supported throughout the process by specially trained officers. We are committed to carrying out the investigation as quickly as possible.”
In July 2016, when the unit changed admission arrangements and stopped providing intensive care, the trust asked the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) to conduct a review into the increased mortality rate. The report published earlier this year found significant gaps in medical and nursing rotas and insufficient staffing for the provision of longer-term high dependency and some intensive care.
Yesterday, the hospital’s medical director Ian Harvey said: “We are deeply sorry for the further distress and heartache this will cause. Throughout this, we have never lost sight of the families left bereaved by the loss of their baby and they will continue to be our main concern.
“At every point where the hospital has been able to share information with families and the public, we have done so. Approaching the police is not something we have undertaken lightly. This is to ensure we have been completely thorough in understanding what has happened here and to get the answers we and the families so desperately want.”
The neonatal unit, which specialises in babies born early with a low weight or medical condition, cares for an average of 400 babies a year. In July last year, admission arrangements were changed and the unit stopped providing intensive care. Any women expected to deliver earlier than 32 weeks were transferred to a neighbouring facility. Since the change to admission arrangements, there have been no deaths on the unit.