Shrewsbury maternity negligence scandal: better care might have saved 201 babies

Our experts at Oakwood Solicitors provide a breakdown of Shrewsbury maternity negligence scandal.

A recent interim report has found that the Maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust were fixated on natural delivery and for the last 20 years, they have placed both mothers and babies at risk of serious harm.

This has had avoidable and devastating impacts upon around 1,500 families with 12 mothers passing away whilst giving birth and over 300 babies passing away or suffering brain damage.

It was found that the Trust opted for natural births which posed significant risks rather than performing caesarean sections despite this being a safer option.

Caesarean sections were 12% lower in comparison to other NHS Trusts.

The full report will be published on Wednesday 30 March 2022.

UPDATE: 01/04/2022

The Ockenden Report, dated 30 March 2022, has found that the Maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust were fixated on natural delivery and for the last 20 years, they have placed both mothers and babies at risk of serious harm.

Investigations were commenced in the summer of 2017 to examine 23 cases of concern. This was due to the tireless efforts of the families, in particular of Kate Stanton-Davies and Pippa Griffiths, who both sadly died after birth in 2009 and 2016.

In the total 12 cases of maternal death that were reviewed, it was concluded that none of the mothers had received care in line with best practice at the time and in three-quarters of cases the care could have been significantly improved.

Only one maternal death investigation was conducted by external clinicians, and the internal reviews were rated as poor by our review team.

These internal investigations frequently did not, recognise system and service-wide failings to follow appropriate procedures and guidance.

As a result, significant omissions in care were not identified and in some incidents women themselves were also held responsible for the outcomes.

As part of the review 498 cases of stillbirth were reviewed and graded. One in four cases were found to have significant or major concerns in maternity care which if managed appropriately might, or would have, resulted in a different outcome.

Most of the neonatal deaths occurred in the first 7 days of life. Nearly a third of all incidents reviewed (27.9 per cent) were identified to have significant or major concerns in the maternity care provided which might or would have resulted in a different outcome.

The review team found that throughout the review period, the staff were overly-confident in their ability to manage complex pregnancies and babies diagnosed with fetal abnormalities during pregnancy.

There was sometimes a reluctance to refer to a tertiary unit to involve specialists such as paediatric surgeons and geneticists in care.

This has had avoidable and devastating impacts upon around 1,500 families with 12 mothers passing away whilst giving birth and over 300 babies passing away or suffering brain damage over the last 20 years.

Our thoughts and condolences are with the affected families of these tragic circumstances.

WHAT TO DO NEXT

If you have been a victim of maternity negligence, you may want to speak to the Medical Negligence department at Oakwood Solicitors. Alternatively, call 0113 200 9720.