The long-awaited Ockenden Review into maternity and neonatal deaths and injuries at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust today issued its final report today, detailing a shocking culture at the heart of maternity services at the Trust over a number of years.
The report details some 1,592 clinical incidents involving mothers and babies dating from 1973-2020. These include preventable deaths and injuries, which many families were told were simply routine and isolated incidents.
At the heart of the report is the theme of cultural denial. Senior doctors and management simply did not listen to the concerns of mothers and families and in many cases used an appeal to their authority to block the voices of families who had been put through such loss and trauma.
Given the importance of the review’s findings, the Secretary of State for Health will today be making a statement to the House of Commons.
Lucy Allan MP said:
I am grateful to Donna Ockenden and her team for their hard work to compile this comprehensive report into maternity malpractice at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, which will start the process of cultural reform that is so desperately needed.
The report makes for devastating reading but I hope that its publication ushers in a more professional, caring and empathetic approach to maternity care at the Trust.
Clearly, the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust was an outlier in terms of poor patient care and we must ask why improving maternity services were not a priority for senior management and why its focus seemed to lie elsewhere.The report lays out starkly the defensiveness of senior doctors and management when concerns were raised over many years. It is crucial that the trust and its maternity services adopt a more patient-focused approach to care. Culture is set from the top and it is vital that we now see a willingness to learn from those in charge at the Trust, listening to the women who for so long had their concerns about the standard of their care ignored.
Health Secretary, Sajid Javid MP said:
Donna Ockenden’s report paints a tragic and harrowing picture of repeated failures in care over two decades, and I am deeply sorry to all the families who have suffered so greatly.
Since the initial report was published in 2020 we have taken steps to invest in maternity services and grow the workforce, and we will make the changes that are needed so that no families have to go through this pain again.
I would like to thank Donna Ockenden and her whole team for their work throughout this long and distressing inquiry, as well as all the families who came forward to tell their stories.”
You can read the full report at the link below.
