Trust ignored maternity scandal families - midwife

Donna Ockenden's review into failings at SaTH was published two years ago

A hospital trust has ignored families affected by failures that contributed to the deaths of more than 200 babies, a senior midwife has said.

Donna Ockenden led an inquiry into the maternity scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) two years ago.

But learning that families had not been contacted by the trust since was "sad and appalling", she said.

In response, Louise Barnett, trust chief executive, said they were grateful for the feedback and had been working hard to ensure services were safe.

Families unhappy with the trust met this week

Mrs Ockenden's damning report revealed had it not been for catastrophic failings at the trust, at least 201 babies and nine mothers might have survived with better care.

Mrs Ockenden met some families in Shrewsbury on Wednesday after they contacted her to say they had heard nothing from the trust since.

Their complaints included a lack of confidence in the trust and officials not being open to approaching them unless there was a direct benefit to the trust, she said.

Some children caught up in the failures have lifelong health needs but parents were now “frightened” to go back to their local hospitals because of their fears.

“It was the trust’s job to engage with these harmed families, you know, 1,500 families, but now this relationship building, this building of trust will have to be done with me acting as a bridge between families and the trust," she said.

She said she would return to Shrewsbury by the end of August while liaising with families and the trust, a role she would assume for as long as was needed and would not “abandon” families as they “gave so much” to her review.

'No credible explanation'

“One mother said to me, 'we poured out our hearts, we sustained further psychological trauma, hurt and harm in trying to get the trust to listen and what was the point?'" she added.

Subsequent meetings would feed back to the trust what the families are experiencing, “but to date.. they’ve been ignored”, she said.

“That is sad. It’s appalling."

The trust had no defence and “did not make excuses” as to why there had been no contact, she said, and offered “no credible explanation”.

“To be fair to them, they recognised that they had a job to do in engaging with the 1,500 families within my review, or at least trying to,” she said.

Mrs Ockenden said she would act as a bridge between the families and the trust

She said she had had no contact with the trust since her report, so could not say what was happening regarding changes or improvements.

She said she was proud of her report, “yet, here we are 25 months down the line”.

“On behalf of the families, I am really upset,” she said.

“I promised families we would help in any way we could and yes, we will make a difference.

"It’s just really sad that we have to do this now, but we’ve just got to get on with it, I think."

Ms Barnett, trust chief executive said: “We have been working hard to ensure services are safe for our communities, but in doing so we recognise we haven’t engaged with many families who want to hear directly from us. For this we are truly sorry.

“We have been, and are, working to understand how best to engage with families who want to directly hear from us, whilst respecting the wishes of those who do not.

"We will listen and learn how best we can support those we have harmed.”