Hospital’s Twitter block on parents whose babies died
THE director of communications at an under-fire hospital trust has been suspended after she blocked on Twitter the parents of babies who died there.
Tiffany Jones prevented bereaved parents from seeing her tweets, which included news about Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).
She has since apologised and deleted her account but has not explained why she singled out the parents of the babies.
A review, conducted by midwife Donna Ockenden, who also led the Shrewsbury maternity probe, into dozens of deaths and injuries at the trust starts next month.
Maternity services at Nottingham City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre are rated as inadequate following inspections.
Parents of babies who have died and who are campaigning for improvements said Miss Jones’s actions were another example of how they had been ignored by the trust.
Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose baby Harriet died at Nottingham City Hospital in 2016, were among those blocked.
Mrs Hawkins told the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which allocates BBCfunded journalists to regional news groups: ‘Considering her job, to block bereaved parents is completely confusing and wrong. She is a mouthpiece for the organisation, so this is our concern – that the culture of NUH is to block us out.’ Kimberley Errington, whose baby Teddy died in
‘The culture is to block us out’
2020, said there were ‘avoidable reoccurring themes in both the poor care we families have received as well as the... attitudes of those senior staff… who can’t seem to get it right’.
Miss Jones, who has worked for the NHS for more than 20 years, apologised ‘wholeheartedly’, saying it was her personal account. But parents pointed out the Twitter handle was on her business card and her job was listed on the account.
A trust spokesman apologised and said: ‘ The director of communications has been suspended.’