Maternity hospital scandal revealed

HEALTH: Babies and mothers died amid major failings at a hospital trust in what is likely to be the NHS’s worst ever maternity scandal.

A leaked report into the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust shows that a “toxic” culture stretching back 40 years led to babies and mothers dying unecessarily.

BABIES AND mothers died amid major failings at a hospital trust in what is likely to be the NHS’s worst ever maternity scandal.

A report leaked to The Independent shows that a “toxic” culture stretching back 40 years was in place when babies and mothers suffered avoidable death.

Children were also left with permanent disability amid substandard care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Staff at the trust routinely dismissed parents’ concerns, were unkind, got dead babies’ names wrong and, in one instance, referred to a baby who died as “it”.

In another case, parents were not told their baby’s body had arrived back from the post-mortem examination, and it was left to decompose so badly that the family never got to say a final goodbye.

The interim update report – also seen by the PA news agency – comes from an independent inquiry ordered by the Government in July 2017.

The study warns that, even to the present day, lessons are not being learned and staff at the trust are uncommunicative with families.

The inquiry, which is being led by maternity expert Donna Ockenden,

was launched by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Its initial scope was to examine 23 cases but this has now grown to more than 270 covering the period 1979 to the present day.

The cases include 22 stillbirths, three deaths during pregnancy, 17 deaths of babies after birth, three deaths of mothers, 47 cases of substandard care and 51 cases of cerebral palsy or brain damage.

The interim report written by Ms Ockenden details the pain suffered by the families.

The report reveals babies were left brain-damaged because staff failed to realise or act upon signs that labour was going wrong.

It also states there was a failure to adequately monitor heartbeats during labour or assess risks during pregnancy, resulting in the deaths of some children

Babies were left brain-damaged from group B strep or meningitis that can often be treated by antibiotics

The inquiry was launched following the efforts of Rhiannon

I’m going to push for a charge of corporate manslaughter.

Rhiannon Davies, whose daughter Kate died shortly after being born in 2009. and Richard Stanton Davies, whose daughter Kate died shortly after birth in 2009, and Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths, whose daughter Pippa died shortly after birth in 2016.

Ms Davies, from Hereford, said: “The narrative that lessons have been learned has to change because lessons are not being learned.

“Everything within that (the leaked report) happened to us.

“I am going to push for the police to bring a charge of corporate manslaughter against the trust.”

In the report, Ms Ockenden wrote: “No apology will be sufficient or adequate for families who lost loved ones to avoidable deaths, or whose experience of becoming a parent was blighted by poor care and avoidable harm.”

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.”

Ms Clark added: “I would like to reassure all families using our maternity services that we have not been waiting for Donna Ockenden’s final report before working to improve our services.

“A lot has already been done to address the issues raised by previous cases. Our focus is to make our maternity service the safest it can be.”