NHS England has written to grieving parents at the centre of the Ockenden maternity review - which is expected to uncover the largest maternity scandal in NHS history. The letter says the inquiry led by Donna Ockenden, the midwifery expert, will be able to examine all cases of concern over the past decade.
With more than 1,700 families involved, five of those are expected to attend NUH's public meeting on Monday, July 10, where the Chair of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust will publicly commit to a new relationship with families who have been affected by the trust's maternity failings. This new relationship will focus on honesty and transparency.
Nick Carver will acknowledge more must be done to gain the trust of families and local communities during the meeting, and he will also commit to working collaboratively to plan for a meaningful apology on behalf of the board.
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Families raised concerns that some were put off from contributing to the review, as it has been the Trust’s responsibility to contact parents who may have been affected and pass on responses to Ms Ockenden’s team.
The dramatic development comes as The Times reports NHS England has bowed to demands by families, which will mostly investigate incidents between 2012 and last year. NHS England wrote to the families of the Nottingham/NUH Maternity Review Family Group in two-page letter dated yesterday (July 8).
Thanking them for their continued patience over the past couple of weeks regarding their collective calls for the Review methology to be changed from an 'opt-in' approach to a 'opt-out' approach - they have taken the decision to make this significant change and move to a full 'opt-out approach'.
This means families will have to opt-out of the investigation if they do not want to participate, rather than opt-in if they do. The change will leave the inquiry free to investigate all remaining cases.
Families are expected to give their reaction to the news as the inquiry approaches its first anniversary on September 1. Donna Ockenden previously said had heard harrowing stories after dozens of families got in touch.
Jack and Sarah Hawkins were one of the first families to raise concerns over care failings at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust after the death of their daughter, Harriet, during labour on April 17, 2016. They were among those to call for changes to the review of maternity care at the Trust to ensure all affected families are included.
After an unproblematic pregnancy, the parents were unconcerned that the Trust was delivering their first child before being told Harriet died from an infection. But their clinical backgrounds caused them to doubt this, with Harriet later found to be perfectly healthy and to have died as a result of a mismanaged labour which spanned six days and included 13 contacts with the Trust.
An internal investigation found no fault by NUH but an independent external review found 13 significant individual failings in Harriet’s care, with the Trust admitting negligence in 2018 and the couple settling a claim out of court, according to PA.
Mr and Mrs Hawkins claim some families are so traumatised by their experiences they cannot bring themselves to open the letters sent by the Trust, which are on NUH Trust headed paper. This has led to calls for the previously existing “opt-in” approach to be changed to one of “opt-out”, where all families affected are automatically eligible.
The opt-out system was used in Ms Ockenden’s previous review of maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, and led to a 95% response rate, whereas Ms Ockenden said in May that currently only around a quarter of eligible white women had contacted the review in Nottingham, and even fewer black and Asian women.
Ms Ockenden uncovered 200 avoidable baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust last year. Nottingham's inquiry is expected to be far greater after the review was launched after more than 100 families with experiences of maternity failings wrote to former Health Secretary Sajid Javid demanding Ms Ockenden be appointed.
Officials from NUH said they were deeply sorry for the "unimaginable distress" that had been caused by the maternity failings. In a statement issued on the day of the review's launch, NUH chiefs said: "We know that an apology will never be enough though and we owe it to those who have been failed, those we’re caring for today and to our staff, to deliver a better maternity service for our communities.
"We welcome the review and will work with Donna’s team to achieve this. We also encourage all staff, from maternity and across our trust, to engage with the review to ensure that the process achieves its objectives".
In January a district judge slapped a £800,000 fine on Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust after the Trust pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment to new mum Sarah Andrews and her cherished first-born baby daughter, Wynter Andrews, who died after just 23 minutes of life.
The judge, Grace Leong, set the fine on the Trust at £800,000, and said ultimately the catalogue of failings and errors exposed Mrs Andrews and her baby to a significant risk of harm which was avoidable.
"Such errors ultimately resulted in the death of Wynter and post-traumatic stress for Mrs Andrews as well as Mr Andrews," she said. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) prosecuted the criminal offences against the hospital.
NUH was contacted by Nottinghamshire Live on Sunday (July 9) over the letter from NHS England to families, and Michelle Rhodes, Chief Nurse at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We know how important this review is for the families who have been affected by failings in our maternity care, as well as our staff and all our communities.
“We continue to work with NHS England and the independent review team to ensure that everyone who wants to can share their experiences and have their say.”
NHS England has been approached for comment and Mrs Andrews.
