Hospital ‘to apologise for failures at maternity unit’
A HOSPITAL chief is set to apologise publicly on behalf of his NHS trust to victims of a maternity scandal.
Families affected by failures in care at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust held a closed meeting with representatives this week.
It was overseen by Donna Ockenden, the midwife and nurse who is leading a review of hundreds of cases where poor care is feared to have harmed babies and mothers.
Nick Carver, chairman of NUH, will apologise on its behalf to the parents affected at its annual public meeting on July 10.
NUH chief executive Anthony May said: “We are absolutely committed to open dialogue with the families and we listened very carefully to all they had to say. We will now take time to reflect and make sure we can follow up all the points raised. I continue to learn a great deal and last night was an important opportunity for me to say sorry for any harm and distress caused by failings in our services.
“We continue to support Donna Ockenden’s independent review because we know how important it is for our learning and local people.
“We are in regular dialogue with Donna’s team and are determined to improve our services.
“I know this is an unsettling time for women and families using our maternity services.
“If anyone has questions about their care, I encourage them to speak to their midwife or consultant.”
Some 1,266 families have shared care concerns with the review since September 1, said Ms Ockenden.
Among them are Sarah and Gary Andrews, who in January were awarded record damages after the death of daughter Wynter 23 minutes after she was born at the city’s Queen’s Medical Centre in September 2019. A total of 663 staff have also made contact, many requesting to be seen individually, which Ms Ockenden said “speaks volumes” about low levels of trust between workers and their employer. The experienced midwife, who previously led a similar review at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, said it was “absolutely crucial” families come forward to ensure “the trust learns in the way that it should”.
She raised concerns that “the method we have used to reach out just doesn’t seem to be working”, adding there are “stark differences” in responses to the review between different ethnic groups. Families have called for the review to be an “opt-in” method, which yielded a 95 per cent response rate in the Shrewsbury review.