42 babies died at ‘toxic’ health trust

MORE than 90 babies died or suffered severe harm due to failings at a hospital trust.

A damning report has identified 620 cases of shocking care, with at least 2 babies and three mothers dying between 1979 and 2017. Another 51 infants were left with brain damage or disability after being deprived of oxygen at birth.

In some cases staff failed to realise or act upon warning signs. One mother who had just lost her child was even told to ‘keep the noise down’ or she would have to leave the hospital.

In another case, parents were not told their baby’s body had returned from a post-mortem examination and it decomposed so badly that they never got to say a final goodbye.

When the Mail reported last year that the number of cases was spiralling at the Shrewsbury

and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, its bosses dismissed this as scaremongering.

The scandal at its two maternity units is now believed to be the largest in NHS history.

The leaked 33-page interim report, written by Donna Ockenden, a senior independent midwife, describes a ‘toxic’ culture where mistakes were covered up and lessons not learnt.

Rhiannon Davies, whose daughter Kate died in 2009 following failures by midwives, said: ‘The only outcome that I will be satisfied with now is a successful prosecution of the hospital trust for corporate manslaughter.’

Paula Clark, interim chief executive at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: ‘On behalf of the trust, I apologise unreservedly to the families who have been affected.’