Solicitors representing a number of Nottingham families who received failings in their maternity care have said the findings of the Ockenden Review "go much wider". Switalskis Solicitors, which represents the parents of Harriet Hawkins, Wynter Andrews and Adele O'Sullivan, all of whom died after failures of care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), welcomed the report into maternity practices at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust.
The report, released by senior midwife Donna Ockenden on Tuesday, March 26, found babies' deaths were often not investigated and grieving parents were not listened to. This meant, she said, "failures in care were repeated" and some mothers were even blamed for their own deaths.
Suzanne Munroe, director and head of clinical negligence at Switalskis Solicitors, said: “As a specialist firm acting for many children and families of those who have sustained a birth injury or lost their baby, we are acutely aware that maternity services have seen enormous pressures over (at least) the last decade. We absolutely support the need for positive change that enables those who work within those services to provide the standard of care that then protects families.
