Damning baby deaths report was covered up by hospital
THE hospital trust at the centre of a maternity scandal buried a damning report warning that mothers and babies were at risk, the Mail can reveal today.
The document was presented to bosses at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust by a top medical college last October but they refused to publish it or tell watchdogs.
Instead, they sent a team of managers to the London HQ of report authors, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, to persuade them to write up a glowing update.
Only when this second document was produced nine months later in July, did the trust publish the first 53-page damning report on its website.
Even then, it was tucked away behind the 11- page progress report which suggested all was well.
Yesterday the Care Quality Commission announced it had taken urgent enforcement action against the entire trust following an inspection last week.
The watchdog takes this action if it is very worried about the safety at a trust and it is an order for managers to make
Last Friday’s Daily Mail immediate improvements. A major investigation is currently underway at the trust into a cluster of deaths spanning two decades. At least 60 incidents have been referred to officials although this number is continuing to rise as more families are coming forward.
The original critical report exposed a catalogue of failings, including how the death rates of babies delivered at the trust was higher than at similar- sized hospitals.
It also warned of dangerous shortages of midwives, a reluctance to investigate mistakes and a ‘constant fear of being blamed when things went wrong’.
A team from the Royal College had carried out a three- day inspection. They also examined managers’ inquiries into three cases, two baby deaths and the severe injury of another infant.
In the nine months between their critical report and the trust finally publishing the results, two babies and one mother died within the maternity department.
Families have accused the trust of a cover-up and questioned how they managed to persuade a top medical college to whitewash its own report.
Rhiannon Davies’ daughter Kate died at the maternity department in 2009, six hours after her birth.
She said: ‘I am no longer shocked by their behaviour, but I am sickened and ground down by their deceit because it compounds the pain of Kate’s loss.’
Cathy Smith, who was the trust’s head of midwifery at the time, was criticised in a damning review into Kate’s death.
Peter Walsh, chief executive of the charity Action against Medical Accidents, said: ‘It is very disappointing if the trust kept the worrying initial report by the Royal College from regulators and commissioners for as long as they appear to have done.’
Ministers have been promising to make the NHS more open ever since the high-profile inquiry into the Mid Staffordshire hospitals disaster in 2013, when hundreds of patients died from neglect.
Julie Bailey, who helped expose the scandal after her mother died, now runs the Patient Advocacy Service. She said: ‘This is clear evidence this hospital board is more interested in putting a positive spin on its failings instead of learning from its mistakes.’
The review by the watchdog NHS Improvement into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals maternity services was ordered in April 2017.
It was initially examining 23 cases from 2002 to 2017 but up to 40 other cases have emerged.
Since the Mail reported this figure last week, another 13 families have come forward.
The RCOG has confirmed that it was the first time it had been asked to provide a progress report after inspecting a trust.
Deirdre Fowler, director of nursing, midwifery and quality at the trust, said the first report was only ‘finalised’ in January even though it is was signed off last October.
‘ By then, we had already addressed many of the issues identified,’ she added.
‘These changes and others were reflected in the full RCOG report, which gave a more up-to-date and accurate picture.’