Senior Tyne and Wear NHS figures have vowed to review the shocking findings of the Ockenden Report, after a number of failures led to 200 avoidable deaths in Shrewsbury, to ensure care is up to scratch in the region.
The report lays out 15 areas in which hospitals all around the country have been told to improve in - many involving ensuring effective levels of midwifery staffing, that complex issues are correctly escalated within an open environment. An interim report was published in late 2020, and this led to it becoming a requirement to report to hospital board meetings about progress towards the a series of standards.
At this week's Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust board meeting, chief exec Dame Jackie Daniel and executive director of nursing Maurya Cushlow both spoke of the importance of carefully considering the implications of the Ockenden Report.
Dame Jackie told the meeting: "The report was sobering reading yesterday. On behalf of our board I want to express our heartfelt sympathies with all of those affected. The report examined care related to more than 1,400 families over 19 years. It identifies a number of really important themes which are pertinent to maternity care right across the country and there's a lot of wider learning to be done on the back of this report.
"Nationally it's been really good to see £127m has been made available to maternity services and that will support those services to make the further improvements we need. I know Maurya and her team in maternity are carefully considering the detail in the report and we are looking at the implications for us - and come back to the board with a more formal update soon."
Ms Cushlow added: "There's nothing of concern in terms of immediate actions we now may need to do. What we now need to do is to take stock of all the work we have done to date and to take stock of the new report and its implications. It's a seminal piece of work and I have no doubt it will change the face of maternity care in the UK in the future."
In response to the interim report and the NHS England "Better Births" report, the Trust has been consulting staff around changes to how services work when it comes to "continuity of carer". After feedback from staff, Ms Cushlow said the consultation period had been extended and more sessions had been laid on - she added at Thursday's meeting that these plans would also need to be reassessed in light of the final Ockenden Report and its implications.
Also speaking at a board meeting, Melanie Johnson - who has the same role at the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust - also reflected on the new report. She said: "It details very traumatic experiences for those families and I am sure all of our thoughts are with them. It's harrowing. The report is extensive and I have not yet had the time to review it in detail."
She said she was reviewing the recommendations and added: "I think there are a number of things for us to consider particularly around training and support for our staff and some of the ways in which we provide board oversight." She said, like in Newcastle, that a more detailed response would be brought to a future board meeting - but in discussion after her comments both she and Dr Shahid Wahid, the Trust's medical director, said strong results in the recent CQC survey of maternity feedback from patients should reassure the public.
The Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust, which earlier in March was rated among the best in the country for maternity services has also responded to the report. A spokesperson for that Trust said: "Our trust is fully compliant with the essential and immediate recommendations/actions published in the interim Ockenden report in December 2020.
"We are reviewing the detail included in the second report published yesterday and also await associated national guidance. The CQC maternity survey published earlier this month rated Northumbria Healthcare maternity services as the best in North East and north Cumbria and within the top ten trusts nationally."
Yesterday, the chief exec of the Royal College of Midwives - Gill Walton - said: "It is heartbreaking that this report only came about because of the determination of the families. We owe them a debt that I fear can never be repaid. What we can do - all of us who are involved in maternity services – is work together to ensure we listen, and we learn from this and ensure that women and families have trust in their care.
"This review must be a turning point for all those working in maternity services. The actions recommended are measured and sensible and reflect much of what the RCM has been calling for. We hope that those in a position to enact them – NHS England and the Department for Health & Social Care – will do so in partnership with organisations like ours and with haste."
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement to the House of Commons: "Due to this tragically high number of cases and the importance of this work to patient safety early conclusions were published in an initial report in December 2020. We accepted all of the recommendations from this first report and the NHS is now taking them forward."
He apologised to the families affected by the scandal and thanked Ms Ockenden, adding that the £127m funding boost from NHS England for maternity services would "bolster the maternity workforce even further and it will also fund programmes to strengthen leadership, retention and capital for neonatal maternity care".
He said he would also create a working group to keep an eye on the issue and a "special health authority" to carry out maternity investigations.
