Families affected by failings at Nottingham's maternity units say there could be many who don't know they have been harmed as a major review into services continues. Maternity care at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is the subject of a review by Donna Ockenden, with the inquiry now expected to examine the cases of 1,700 families.
The review has become larger than initially thought after NHS England confirmed that the system of the review would change to being an "opt-out" one, meaning Donna Ockenden will have access to all relevant records unless families come forward saying they do not want to be involved. The change was confirmed at the annual public meeting of NUH on Monday (July 10), which was attended by several families who have suffered loss, illness or life-changing injury after attending Nottingham's maternity units.
Among those attending were Sarah and Gary Andrews, who lost their daughter Wynter in September 2019. That case was the subject of a criminal prosecution by the Care Quality Commission earlier this year, resulting in NUH being fined £800,000.
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Speaking about the impact that the new "opt-in" system will have, Mr Andrews said: "We always said that there are families out there who perhaps didn't know they had been harmed. This way, if the data is there it can be looked at."
Mrs Andrews also said the system would be better for minority communities who have struggled to have their voices heard so far. Improving the way NUH communicates and engages with the BAME community is one of the initial findings that Donna Ockenden has shared with senior leaders at the trust.
Ms Ockenden said during the meeting that issues had included a lack of translation and interpretation in hospitals, leading to one situation in which a patient had to phone her mother in Pakistan during an emergency situation to be properly understood. Nick Carver, the Chair of NUH, and Anthony May, the trust's Chief Executive, were asked several questions by the families in attendance during the meeting.
Among those sharing their experiences were Sarah and Jack Hawkins, who lost their daughter Harriet in April 2016. Harriet was stillborn due to "shortcomings in care" from NUH, with Mrs Hawkins taking nine hours to deliver her daughter following her death.
An external report later found that Harriet's death was "almost certainly" preventable. Mrs Hawkins said she had told senior NUH leaders in several meetings over recent years: "You wouldn't know if Beverley Allitt was working for you."
Chief Executive Anthony May said before the meeting that NUH would be moving away from issuing apologies which families felt had been "superficial." Instead, Mr May says NUH will shape a meaningful apology with families that will only be issued after some of the findings from Ms Ockenden's review have been released.
Speaking about the importance of this step after the meeting, Sarah Andrews said: "Historically, the apologies from the trust have almost been a copy and paste. You look back through media articles and their apology is almost always the exact same words, no matter what the circumstances.
"It hasn't felt meaningful or sincere. What we really want from the apology is for them to let Donna do what she is doing, find out the full extent and then know what they're apologising for... But the apology doesn't take away from the individual apologies that need to be made for individual care."
Wynter Andrews died just 23 minutes after she was born at the Queen's Medical Centre, with her umbilical cord becoming wrapped around her neck. Other significant issues with Wynter's care included her placenta being inflamed due to infection and the fact that she suffered a haemorrhage to the brain and lung.
NUH Chair Nick Carver opened Monday's meeting by saying: "As the public record shows, this is an area where we have failed the families and communities that we exist to serve. To make matters worse, having failed them, we have too often worsened things by not responding to them appropriately."
Mrs Andrews added: "It was never really an option to do the review with such a small number of people, because you're never going to get a full picture. What Nottingham needs now is the full picture so that it can make the changes, grow, and become the service that the people of Nottingham deserve."
