East Kent baby deaths: Royal college recommendations not met

Harry Richford was one of the babies who died as a result of failings

A hospital trust at the centre of an inquiry over baby deaths has failed to complete 21 recommendations made by a safety review four years ago.

East Kent Hospitals has complied fully with only two of the 23 points in a 2016 report from the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, an internal review found.

The deaths of 15 babies at the trust are being independently investigated.

The trust said it aimed to "provide an excellent standard of care".

"We will not rest until we, the public and our regulators are confident we are doing so," it added.

'Wholly avoidable'

The trust launched a review after an inquest in January concluded that the death of baby Harry Richford in 2017 was "wholly avoidable".

Grandfather Derek Richford said that if the trust had "carried out all of the recommendations then Harry, and maybe many more, would have survived".

A report issued by a coroner after the inquest into Harry's death contained recommendations that were "very similar in many cases to those" made previously, he said.

The 2016 report had not been "treated seriously enough," he said.

The review, led by an external clinician, found that two of the royal college's 23 recommendations had been met, while 11 were "partially met" and ten had either not been met or there was no evidence they had been.

In February, chief executive Susan Acott said she had not seen the report, which highlighted problems faced by the maternity department, until 2019.

Other recommendations for how to improve care of mothers and babies have been made by the Care Quality Commission and a coroner.

The trust said it would all be "incorporated into a single Integrated Improvement Programme for maternity", which will be overseen by the board of directors.