More tragedy at maternity units mired in scandal: Lawyers are still being contacted over cases of potential malpractice – ahead of next week’s bombshell report into the crisis
Cases of potential malpractice at scandal-hit NHS maternity units continue to emerge, lawyers have warned on the eve of a bombshell report into the crisis.
More than 1,800 families suffered trauma through the death or serious injury of their baby – or in some cases the mother – at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in the two decades up to 2019 in Britain’s worst maternity scandal.
A damning interim report by independent midwife Donna Ockenden in December 2020 highlighted a litany of cultural and clinical failures at the Shropshire trust in which mothers were routinely blamed for baby deaths.
Katie Wilkins’s unborn baby girl died after busy midwives left the mum-to-be in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her
But despite the attentions of NHS regulators on the trust, lawyers are still being contacted over alleged cases of labour ward malpractice.
Clinical negligence lawyer Beth Heath said her firm is dealing with six potential cases dating from 2020 and another two from last year involving alleged poor maternity care at the trust, which runs hospitals in Telford and Shrewsbury.
‘Forgotten’ for 48 hours
Katie Wilkins’s unborn baby girl died after busy midwives left the mum-to-be in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her.
Miss Wilkins was 15 days overdue when she arrived at the over-stretched Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to be induced in February 2013.
But there were no beds available and instead Miss Wilkins claims she was ‘forgotten’ in a side room for more than two days, and only visited by staff a handful of times.
When a midwife checked her progress, the baby’s heartbeat could not be found.
Miss Wilkins’s daughter, Maddie, was delivered stillborn the following day – two and a half days after she was admitted.
Last night the 26-year-old said she hoped the report would be the first step to getting justice for her daughter.
Her firm received dozens of calls from worried patients after a BBC Panorama documentary on the scandal last month.
The full report will be released on Wednesday and will cover issues uncovered throughout all 1,862 cases of the scandal, the burgeoning extent of which was first exposed by the Daily Mail four years ago. The report is expected to name individual staff members.
Mrs Heath, head of clinical negligence at Lanyon Bowdler in Shrewsbury, said: ‘Over a two-year period eight cases in any ordinary trust might not be unexpected.
‘But after everything that has gone on in Shropshire, it’s a worry… In my experience people don’t come forward straight away so I would expect that number to rise.’ Of the eight most recent cases – which are outside the scope of the Ockenden review – two relate to birth injuries, three are maternal injuries and three are neo-natal deaths.
The lawyer said she has had her own baby since questions started being asked about the trust, but despite living in the area, had travelled outside it to give birth.
‘That was a deliberate choice because of everything I have learnt during this period,’ she said.
Mrs Heath acknowledged that changes are now starting to bear fruit at Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, but added: ‘It is not going to be a quick fix.
‘There is a complete lack of trust in the community – and I can say that speaking as a local person – but we all want to see the improvements happen.’
The scandal grew after Jeremy Hunt, health secretary at the time, commissioned Mrs Ockenden to examine what started out as a suspicious cluster of 23 incidents at the trust in 2017.
The interim Ockenden Report into 250 clinical cases highlighted a recurring failure by staff to properly monitor a baby’s heart rate – something first identified as an issue within the trust in 2007.
It shed light on a natural birth culture, excessive use of forceps and repeated misuse of a labour-inducing drug and a lack of compassion.
Lawyer Laura Preston, of Slater and Gordon, likened the scandal to events at Mid Staffordshire – where up to 1,200 patients died needlessly between 2005 and 2009. She said: ‘I have never seen a situation where there has been an issue for so long in the same trust.’
A trust spokesman said: ‘We take full responsibility for the failings in the standards of care within our maternity services and we offer our sincere apologies.’
An investigation by West Mercia police is ongoing.
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