Nottinghamshire Live has this week reported that families whose babies died due to failings at Nottingham hospitals have been angered by comments made by regulatory bodies at a recent meeting regarding the review into the city’s maternity scandal.
Insensitive comments
Nottingham University Hospitals is currently subject to the largest independent review in NHS history, and a police investigation, following multiple baby deaths and injuries over many years.
In February, a meeting took place with families who are part of the review at which members of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the General Medical Council (GMC) were present.
Families have written to the review’s chair, Donna Ockenden, alerting her that officials from both the NMC and the GMC were overheard making insensitive comments at the meeting, such as “I don’t know why they are angry at us” and “the room’s just angry”.
Both the NMC and GMC have said they were “sorry for the distress caused” by the comments made.
Encapsulates everything that is wrong with the GMC
An internal review by the GMC followed and found that its staff had not shown a lack of professionalism or had been dismissive towards families.
However, the families have responded and said that this finding was in itself dismissive of their experiences.
In a joint statement, the families commented:
“This encapsulates everything that is wrong with the GMC. They lack any awareness of their own systemic failures. They have not spoken to any families during this investigation.”
Deeply regretful
In stark contrast, the NMC contacted the families to advise that they would be holding a meeting with their officials who, they said, were “deeply regretful” that they could not offer more support.
NMC also confirmed it was organising additional training for staff.
Failing to protect families
This story comes as both the NMC and GMC are under increasing scrutiny for failing to protect families over the years.
The families whose babies died due to NHS failings have called for a public inquiry into the conduct of regulators since concerns arose around maternity care back in 2016.
Sarah and Gary Andrews lost their baby, Wynter, in 2019 following a series of failings in her care at NUH and have joined the call for a public inquiry into the conduct of regulators. Mrs Andrews said:
“We don’t understand where they were during that time. They should’ve and could’ve been doing more to help the families of Nottingham. It’s upsetting. We’re reliving our trauma again and again and again and a lot of the time we’re not being listened to.”
Sarah and Jack Hawkins, whose baby, Harriet, died after hospital failings in 2016, said that the apologies from the GMC and NMC were “lip service”.
Mrs Hawkins said:
“I don’t think they understand the gravity of the situation. There might have been fewer dead babies if they had listened to clinical concerns. There was a senior midwife who couldn’t diagnose labour when I was in hospital and she is still working at the trust.”
Apologies and promises to do better
Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of the GMC, said:
“Engaging with the affected families is a priority and I was very sorry that the recent meeting we attended added to their distress. I have since written to families to apologise for this, offering to arrange a further meeting in Nottingham so we can discuss how we can move forward.
“We have met with a number of families in person in Nottingham to support them to share their concerns with us in a way that best meets their needs. We have also established a dedicated single point of contact for families, who has visited Nottingham on a number of occasions.
“This is something that we remain committed to doing for families who ask for it. We take the concerns the families have raised with us about doctors very seriously and we will take action wherever it is appropriate to do so.
“We are in regular contact with Donna Ockenden and her team and have on a number of occasions asked them to share any information they have that may relate to individual doctors’ fitness to practice. We are also engaging directly with NUH about patient safety issues raised by families, and will continue to do so.”
Comment
Given the seriousness of the issues at hand here, the very least the families involved in the Nottingham maternity scandal deserve is the respect and empathy of all organisations involved in the process.
Thoughtless comments at such a sensitive meeting are unacceptable and officials should absolutely know better.
The fact that families still, all these months and years later, do not feel that they are being listened to about their experiences is woeful and not good enough. Far more needs to be done to help families feel supported and confident that the investigations which are ongoing are dealing appropriately with the issues.
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Danielle Young is a Legal Director in our Medical Negligence team, which has been ranked in tier one by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500.
If you have any questions in relation to the subjects discussed in this article, then please get in touch with Danielle or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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