I knew my baby should not lose her life in vain
GRIEVING mothers were blamed for the loss of their children, a review into baby deaths and poor care at a scandal-hit NHS trust has found.
‘Flippant and dismissive’ staff caused distress with ‘inappropriate language’ to patients, the inquiry said.
As well as specific findings about the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), it identified seven ‘immediate and essential actions’ needed to improve maternity services in England.
These included risk assessments throughout pregnancy and increased monitoring of foetal wellbeing.
And the review found that the deaths in SaTH care of Kate Stanton-Davies in 2009 and Pippa Griffiths in 2016 were ‘avoidable’. The families of both girls had campaigned for years for an inquiry.
Rhiannon Davies, whose daughter Kate died, said she ‘never doubted’ something was wrong at the Shropshire trust.
She had noticed less movement by her unborn child in the last weeks of her pregnancy, but was reassured she was low risk and could give birth at a unit where midwives were in charge.
Kate was born ‘pale and floppy’ at Ludlow Community Hospital and died after delays transferring her to a doctorled maternity unit. ‘I have fought every day since for Kate and for all the other families because I will not have her life be lived and lost in vain,’ Ms Davies told Sky News. Husband Richard added ‘no family should have to go through’ what they did.
The inquiry – the largest ever into NHS maternity care – is looking into 1,862 cases after at least 42 babies died and others were left brain damaged at SaTH hospitals between 2000 and last year.
In the same period, 13 mothers died, a disproportionately high rate.
Donna Ockenden, the former senior midwife leading the inquiry, said lack of ‘kindness and compassion’ from some staff was a ‘deeply worrying theme’ that cropped up in the investigation.
In an interim report, she added that care at the trust ‘caused untold pain and distress, including, sadly, deaths of mothers and babies’.
The review team also noted that ‘ in some serious incident reports the findings and conclusions failed to identify the underlying failings’.
The trust apologised for the ‘pain and distress’ caused by staff. It will follow all the inquiry’s recommendations.