Shrewsbury maternity scandal: Hundreds of families sent letters as inquiry cases near 1,200

Shrewsbury maternity inquiry chair says many of the concerns under investigation ‘are amongst the most serious any of my team have seen in their entire careers’

More than 1,170 cases of alleged poor maternity care are being investigated (Getty)

An independent investigation into one of the worst maternity safety scandals in NHS history has written to 400 families today as the number of cases under investigation swell to almost 1,200.

Despite the coronavirus crisis the review, chaired by midwifery expert Donna Ockenden, is continuing its work investigating poor maternity care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust where dozens of babies died or suffered brain damage as a result of poor care over several decades.

In November last year The Independent revealed the scale of the scandal after a leaked interim report by Ms Ockenden said at least 42 babies and three mothers had died between 1979 and 2017 with more than 50 children suffering permanent brain damage.

Speaking to The Independent on Tuesday Ms Ockenden said some members of her team had been recalled to the NHS frontline and forced to reduce their hours on the inquiry but she said the team remained committed to its work.

She revealed the review was in contact with families involved in incidents as recently as 2019 as well as some dating back to the 1970s.

She said: “The review is not historical. We are very clear the review will make a difference to maternity care going forward because our findings, whilst they look back, are rooted in today’s maternity services.”

The 400 letters have been sent to families to explain the work of the review, set up in 2017 by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, and to offer them the choice of whether they wish to have to their case examined.

Concerns about poor maternity care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Trust first emerged after the death of baby Kate Stanton-Davies, who died shortly after birth in 2009, and Pippa Griffiths, who died just after she was born in 2016.

As more deaths and complaints surfaced health secretary Matt Hancock agreed to widen the review in 2018 and since then the numbers have grown and outstripped any previous maternity inquiry.

Donna Ockenden confirmed on Tuesday that the number of families involved in the maternity review stands at 1,170.

She would not be drawn on conclusions she may make in her final report but added: “Many of the concerns we are looking at are amongst the most serious any of my team have seen in their entire careers.

“The team remains committed to finishing the work and publishing the review as soon as it reasonably can be.”

Earlier this month the trust, which has been heavily criticised by regulators over the safety of its maternity services, accident and emergency care and management culture, was rated inadequate for the second time in a row by the Care Quality Commission.

It found not all the trust leaders “had the capacity and capability to lead effectively” adding that “quality of care had deteriorated” in some parts of the hospital with a poor culture impacting on staff.

Ms Ockenden said: “Clearly the trust has got a lot of work ahead, but they are fully cooperating and supporting the review.

“We are receiving full support and cooperation from the trust now, which is extremely helpful.”

Explaining why the letters had only been sent now she said: “Throughout the autumn and winter of 2018, the trust, supported by NHS Improvement, undertook its own review of maternity care, where records existed, from the year 2007 to the end of 2018. This led to the identification of just over 330 families who at that time were not known to my maternity review team. I am now writing to those families to ask them if they would like to be included in the review.”

When asked what the total number of families involved was she replied: “The total now stands at 1,170 as more families have been identified.

“Following media attention in the autumn of 2018, a number of families contacted the trust directly and either asked for their cases to be reviewed, or to be included, in the independent maternity review. This group of families have also been written to today, together with a number of families who commenced legal proceedings against the trust.”

She appealed to any families with concerns to contact the review by the end of May this year at maternityreview@donnaockenden.com.