Largest maternity scandal in NHS history revealed in leaked report

A leaked report, presented to The Independent last November, brought to light Britain’s largest maternity scandal at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (Sath), where dozens of babies and three mothers died because of poor care, with more than 900 cases currently under investigation.

Despite a track record of poor care giving stretching over 4 decades, the trust was awarded close to £1m in 2018 for meeting the 10 safety standards required by the NHS Maternity Incentive Scheme.

This amount was handed over while Sath was still being inspected by the Care Quality Commission, which later rated the trust and its maternity services as inadequate.

The trust, which has since ordered an independent review into the matter, said an “incorrect submission” had been made to the maternity scheme.

“We have reassessed the Maternity Incentive Scheme return for year 1, which was submitted in 2018,” Sath’s chief executive, Louise Barnett, said in a statement. “Although some good progress had been made, we did not have sufficient evidence to support the required 100% compliance in all of the standards.

“The incentive scheme money which we received from NHS Resolution will be repaid.

“We acknowledge that our systems need to be more robust. We are continuing to review and strengthen our governance processes, to provide additional rigour and scrutiny at all levels, which I welcome.”

An investigation, which was launched in 2017 by the then health secretary Jeremy Hunt and led by midwife Donna Ockenden, singled out the deaths of at least 42 babies and three mothers during that period.

More than 50 children also suffered brain damage after being deprived of oxygen during birth, the investigation discovered, as well as identifying 47 other cases of substandard care.

Ockenden urged families affected by the scandal to come forward and report their experiences under the trust.

“This is not a process that can be rushed,” she said in November. “Equally, it must not be a process that feels incomplete. By the time I complete my report at the end of 2020, I want to make sure we have done all we can to reach every family who has raised concerns.”

Last month, Hunt called for an independent inquiry into maternity safety across the entirety of the NHS following the Sath scandal and widespread neglect uncovered at East Kent Hospitals University Trust.

Now chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, he also backed The Independent’s campaign to reinstate a scrapped maternity safety fund, and called for an investigation of why poor care and cover-ups are being repeated at different hospitals.

“I think the case is becoming unanswerable for an independent inquiry into the safety of maternity care across the NHS ... I think it’s difficult to say there isn’t some kind of a pattern of problems here,” he told The Independent. “The question that needs answering is: why do these mistakes appear to be repeating themselves?”

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