Maternity review chair urges families to come forward

Donna Ockenden said just 342 had responded to the trust's 1,400 letters

A senior midwife leading the review into Nottingham's maternity services has urged families to get in touch after only a quarter replied to letters sent by an NHS trust.

Donna Ockenden is running an examination into care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, where maternity units are rated "inadequate".

So far 1,203 families have contacted the review team directly and to date, 623 of these have given consent to join it.

About 1,400 separate letters from NUH have gone to families who experienced stillbirth, neonatal deaths, brain damage to the baby or harm to mothers.

Dozens of babies have died or been injured at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust

The letters included correspondence from NUH chief executive Anthony May and Ms Ockenden, who explained how families could contact the review.

Ms Ockenden said there had been 342 responses to the letters, with 11 families who have said they did not wish to be a part of the review.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service anyone who had experienced issues with maternity services at the trust should come forward.

"The letters were complex and some families may not have understood what they needed to do," she said.

"Some families may have read the letter and thought it was too painful to respond.

"We would say to all local communities, this is about improving your local maternity service for you, your sisters, your best friend and for your wives.

"All of the families are important to us but the families identified [by the trust] are particularly important because we know that something has happened to them. We don't know yet whether poor care contributed to the outcome for these families."