Rotheras Solicitors welcome Nottinghamshire Police’s criminal investigation into local maternity care to ensure that their clients voices are heard, and other families in the future are saved the tragedy and loss which they have suffered
Nottinghamshire Police yesterday announced that they are launching a criminal investigation into local maternity care after enquiries made by them as part of the Ockenden Review led to cases of ‘potentially significant concern’.
The announcement follows a meeting which local police held with Donna Ockenden who has been appointed Chair of what is being considered the largest review of NHS maternity services in the UK.
Ockenden’s review will investigate Nottingham University Hospitals Trust’s provision of maternity services following a number of baby deaths and injuries across the region at both Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen’s Medical Centre.
The Review began in September 2022 following preliminary investigations and enquiries, including direct contact with affected families, and is anticipated to last around 18 months before a formal report is published. It follows significant concerns regarding the quality and safety of care within the Trust and has been established in order to independently investigate negligence within services provided by the Trust in the last 10 years. It seeks to identify the systemic failures which have led to mothers and babies sustaining avoidable catastrophic injuries or death.
In excess of 1,700 individual cases have been identified as relevant for the purposes of the Review and will form part of its investigation.
Greg Almond, Partner and Head of the Serious Injury Team at Rotheras Solicitors, who is representing clients locally who have suffered from mismanagement whilst under the care of local Hospital services, and who in the most distressing of cases have suffered the deaths of their newborns whilst in hospital, welcomes the Police intervention: ‘Whilst neither a criminal investigation, nor the findings in the Ockenden report, comes in time for our clients, it will at least mean that their voices are heard, and will hopefully save other families in the future from having to experience the tragedy and loss which they have suffered’.
Ockenden has maintained a determination to thoroughly and robustly investigate clinical failures within the Trust and in doing so launched the Staff Voices initiative in October 2022 as part of the Review: a confidential channel allowing staff within the Trust to submit their concerns anonymously to the Review board. To date, over 250 NHS staff have come forward to assist the Review.
It seeks to give a voice to NHS staff who have raised historical concerns regarding the mismanagement of staff, individual patient care plans and services generally but were disregarded or ignored. Whilst it is not unique nor surprising to learn of understaffing within the NHS, it has previously been identified as a materially contributing factor in incidences of avoidable neglect, most notably following the tragic death of baby Wynter Andrews in September 2019.
Following the inquest of baby Wynter’s death at Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, Coroner Laurinder Bower issued a robust Prevention of Future Deaths Report in September 2020 and within it raised grave concerns about the standard of care and the avoidable nature of the death, stating:
“Staff told me this was not the first time, nor the last time, that they have been asked to care for multiple families simultaneously, meaning that those families cannot receive the time, focus and dedication they require. Staff further told me that they have repeatedly raised their concerns about patient safety, but their concerns have been met with silence… Midwives spoke of their inability to professionally challenge plans made by medical staff, even in circumstances where they felt the plan might harm mother or baby.”
Rotheras hope that with the added weight of a criminal investigation, there will now finally be an improvement in the care and services provided to the families of Nottingham. At present local maternity services are ranked as ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission who are due to publish a new report into Nottingham’s services on 13 September 2023.
Press enquiries to:
Jo Walchester – Head of Marketing
Direct Tel: 0115 9106254
Greg Almond – Head of Serious Injury Team
g.almond@rotheras.co.uk
Direct Tel: 0115 9106230
Julie Walker – Consultant in Serious Injury Team
Support
Other avenues of support are available at:
Baby loss:
https://www.tommys.org/baby-loss-support
https://www.sands.org.uk/support-you
Bereavement support:
Support for NHS staff:
https://www.ockendenmaternityreview.org.uk/support-for-staff/
