Scandal-hit NHS trust fined £733k after baby’s tragic death
AN NHS trust at the centre of a maternity care scandal was fined £733,000 yesterday after the death of a week-old boy following an emergency delivery.
East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment to Harry Richford and his mother Sarah.
Avoidable
The trust’s care for mothers and newborn babies has been heavily criticised after reports that at least seven preventable baby deaths may have occurred since 2016.
At Folkestone magistrates’ court, District Judge Justin Barron told Mrs Richford and husband Tom that the blunders, including delayed delivery and resuscitation, led to “the greatest harm imaginable”.
The tragedy was described as “wholly avoidable” by a coroner.
A fine of £1.1million was cut to £733,000 due to the trust’s guilty plea, following a prosecution by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Harry died in the intensive neonatal unit at William Harvey hospital in Ashford a week after being delivered at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital, in Margate, in 2017.
The Richfords have now vowed to campaign on maternity safety to ensure “long-lasting change” at local and national level.
Trust chairman Niall Dickson said: “Harry’s parents expected that they would return home with a healthy baby and we failed them.”
He said a “critical” part of improvements must be “making sure we respect and we listen to women and their families”.
CQC deputy chief inspector of hospitals Nigel Acheson said: “No family should ever have to endure the pain and suffering that the Richford family have experienced.”