The BBC has reported that the families of nine babies who died at hospitals run by the University Hospitals of Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) over a three-year period have called for a public inquiry into the standard of the Trust’s maternity care.
Letter to MPs
A collective letter has been sent to each of the families’ MPs.
The group of families includes those of five babies who died at the Brighton Hospital, and four who died at Worthing Hospital.
Of the nine bereaved mothers, four have said that they too almost died as a result of “poor standards of care” from maternity teams at the Trust between 2021 and 2023.
The families are calling for an inquiry into the Trust’s maternity services to ensure accountability for “systemic failures”, and so that the Trust learns from past mistakes.
The letter from the families to their MPs said:
“With the volume and repetition of errors in maternity care by the trust, we believe that babies and potentially mothers will continue to unnecessarily die under the trust’s care unless there is additional intervention.”
“…Our babies were otherwise healthy and would have grown up if not for failings in care and the dismissal of our concerns….’
Trust’s response
Chief Nurse at the Trust, Dr Maggie Davies, said that “our deepest condolences and sincere apologies” were offered to the families involved.
She went on:
“Whilst we recognise that no words can ease their pain, our dedicated teams are committed to listening, learning and improving the service, so that mothers-to-be, mothers and their babies are as safe as they possibly can be whilst in our care.”
Independent review into Nottingham’s maternity services – update
Inquiries have already been held or commenced into other Trusts’ maternity services.
Notably, a large-scale independent review is underway of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, led by Donna Ockenden, which started in September 2022.
Ms Ockenden has been providing a monthly update on the progress of the huge review on the website.
In her latest monthly update, Ms Ockenden said that, since the review commenced in September 2022, 1,904 families have joined, and it is expected that this number will continue to grow.
The review is looking at all aspects of maternity care provided at Nottingham City Hospital, and Queens Medical Centre (QMC).
Ms Ockenden offers her sincere thanks to those families who have come forward and agreed to join the review and reminds us that if any other families are interested in doing so, they can contact the team by email or by telephone Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Antenatal care
The review team has recently announced plans to now look in depth at antenatal care as part of the review’s work plan. This includes care received at various stages during pregnancy to check that mothers and their babies are as well as possible.
As a result, the review team are now keen to hear from women and families who would like to tell the team about the antenatal care they have received at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Any families who wish to discuss antenatal care at Nottingham hospitals with the review team should contact them either by email at [email protected] or by telephone Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
Family get together
The review team are hosting a Family Get Together for their review families on 15 June 2024 at Nottingham County Football Club, offering support and information, and a chance to meet with members of the review team, Nottinghamshire Police, local MPs, charities, and the Family Psychological Support Service.
On the day, there will be updates in relation to the review so far, and further discussions, along with opportunities to share stories if families wish to.
You can find out more about this on the review website.
Comment
Very sadly, the concerns of the bereaved families in the Sussex area are not unfamiliar.
Maternity services in the UK have been under intense scrutiny for the last few years and it shows no signs of easing.
CQC statistics show that last year:
- 10% of maternity services in the UK were rated as ‘inadequate’.
- 39% of maternity services were rated as ‘requires improvement’.
- Safety and leadership were areas of particular concern with 15% rated as inadequate for their safety and 12% rated inadequate for being well-led.
As part of its programme of focused inspections of NHS maternity services, CQC had inspected 73% of the services by September 2023 and said the service and staff were under huge pressure, warning that many patients were still not receiving safe, high-quality care.
The CQC has warned that most NHS maternity units are not safe enough.
Tragically, stories such as the ones of the families who are calling for the inquiry into University Hospitals of Sussex NHS Foundation Trust only serve to highlight that issues very much remain with maternity services in the UK and that there is still a significant uphill battle ahead to see the improvements which are so desperately needed.
It is not acceptable that families cannot be assured that they will receive safe and well-led care when they utilise maternity services, and lives have needlessly been lost as a result of negligent and unsafe care.
It is shocking that this is the case.
If there are any positives to be drawn, it remains the case that maternity services across the country continue to face rigorous reviews and scrutiny which should significantly assist in pushing for improvements.
How can we help?
Danielle Young is a Legal Director in our Medical Negligence team, which is ranked in Tier One by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500, and Commended in The Times Best Law Firms 2024.
If you have any questions about the subjects discussed in this article, please contact Danielle or another team member in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.
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