New Shropshire hospitals maternity care improvements committee to meet next week

It comes after initial findings of the Ockenden inquiry – which is looking into more than 1,800 cases of alleged poor care and baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust – identified 27 local actions needed to improve the county's maternity services, as well as seven which are recommended for across England.

Last month it was revealed that a new assurance committee, with an independent external chair, would be set up and will specifically focus on the Ockenden report.

Chief executive of the trust, Louise Barnett, said its meetings would be held in public to promote transparency.

Speaking at the latest board of directors meeting this month, she said: "We committed to the Ockenden report assurance committee.

"We have been in discussion with a potential chair, but we have agreed that committee should meet for the first meeting in March.

"We have set a date for that which will be March 24."

She said that meeting would be chaired by SaTH's chair Dr Catriona McMahon, supported by herself.

Ms Barnett added: "If we're able to bring on board the external chair at that point we will do so.

"But if not, we felt it was important to proceed in terms of the transparency.

Action

"We are in the background preparing for that first meeting."

Nursing director Hayley Flavell told the meeting that the trust, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, was making good progress in most of the required actions relating to the Ockenden report.

A report to the board said: "Good progress is being made with most of the required actions, with three yet to start.

"These relate to ongoing work that is required with and the Local Maternity and Neonatal System (LMNS), and these are being considered with the LMNS to determine the most appropriate course of action."

In total, there are 52 specific actions for the trust to implement.

The report said all of the actions had been incorporated into the trust’s maternity improvement and transformation plan.

The trust is also working with Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, from Nottinghamshire, to bring forward improvements in maternity services.

The initial findings of the Ockenden inquiry were published in December, and the full report is expected later this year.

Following its launch by then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in 2017, the number of cases being considered has risen from 23 to 1,862.