Parents who uncovered Shropshire maternity scandal ask Health Secretary to launch national inquiry
Parents whose campaigning uncovered Shropshire's maternity scandal have called on the Government to launch a national investigation into services across England.
Rhiannon Davies, her husband Richard Stanton, and Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths, from Myddle, have written to the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, to outline their concerns in the wake of recent developments at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which is investigating around 1,700 cases of poor maternity care.
They have also highlighted concerns at overall standards across the country.
Ms Davies and Mr Stanton's daughter Kate died avoidably in the care of Shrewsbury & Telford NHS Trust (SaTH), while Mr and Mrs Griffiths' daughter Pippa also died due to failings in the organisation's care.
Their campaigning led to the Ockenden review of maternity services at SaTH which revealed harrowing details about the extent of persistent failures at the trust.
It led to a raft of recommendations for improvements.
Donna Ockenden, who carried out the review, is now looking into the Nottingham services.
In their letter, the campaigners have asked Mr Barclay to put Mrs Ockenden in charge of a nationwide inquiry.
They said: "We are sure you have read the findings of the Morecambe Bay Investigation, East Kent Investigation, the Ockenden Review and be aware of the ongoing Nottingham review.
"You will also be aware of Operation Lincoln, the fact the CQC prosecuted for maternity failings in East Kent and Nottingham already, are investigating additional criminality in Nottingham and that the police are doing the same.
"Shockingly, despite intense scrutiny from the regulators, independent investigators, the police, and national media, as well as increased funding and overarching recommendations for change, maternity services in England and Wales have not improved, and are deteriorating.
"The latest figures (from 2021) show a sharp increase in maternity death rates: for example, there were 2,473 stillbirths compared to 2,292 the previous year, and 1,151 neonatal deaths compared to the previous 1,051.
"Not only are death rates increasing, Mr. Barclay, but the raft of recommendations and the additional funding are not getting to the heart of issues."
They added: "Robust action is required of you immediately. Rather than disconnected and disjointed clinical and criminal investigations into hospital trusts across the country, a public inquiry into maternity services and all those services associated with maternity and its regulation is the only way we can get to the root of the issues and create required change.
"We recommend Donna Ockenden leads this."
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Every parent deserves to feel confident in the care they and their baby receive. The findings in Leicester are concerning and so we welcome the Care Quality Commission’s commitment to monitoring those trusts that are not providing an adequate standard, to ensure improvements are made.
“Nationally, we have invested £165 million a year since 2021 to grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal services and we are promoting careers in midwifery by increasing training places by up to 3,650 over the past four years.
“The Care Quality Commission is also currently inspecting all NHS acute hospital maternity services that have not been inspected and rated since April 2021.”
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