Nottingham hospitals media boss blocked bereaved parents on Twitter

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

The press director at a hospital trust has been suspended after she blocked bereaved families on social media.

Tiffany Jones, who works for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), apologised "wholeheartedly" after she was found to have prevented parents of babies who died at maternity units from seeing her Twitter messages.

She has deleted her Twitter account.

A review of dozens of baby deaths and injuries at the trust's sites starts next month.

NUH's maternity services have been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission, which has also criticised the trust's culture and leadership.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden - who carried out a review into the maternity scandal in Shropshire - will examine its maternity services in a probe that could last 18 months.

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The trust's social media policy, approved in 2019, says social media users must not "criticise or cause embarrassment to the trust, its patients, healthcare partners, other stakeholders or staff in a public post".

It is not clear when individual families were blocked by Ms Jones.

Donna Ockenden's review will begin in September

Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose baby Harriet died at Nottingham City Hospital in 2016, were among those blocked.

Mrs Hawkins told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she was surprised to find out she had been prevented from viewing her messages.

"We have never tweeted her or direct messaged her so it's completely random," she said.

"Considering her job as director of communications, to block bereaved parents is completely confusing and wrong.

"She is a mouthpiece for the organisation so this is our concern - that the culture of NUH is to block us out."

Kimberley Errington, whose baby Teddy died in November 2020, tweeted to say she had noticed she had been blocked by Ms Jones on Tuesday.

She said she was "shocked and utterly dismayed" at "yet another unbelievable blunder".

'Undue upset'

On Friday, Ms Jones confirmed she was deleting her personal account, which displayed her job title and her work with the trust.

"I apologise wholeheartedly for the upset my decision to block some individuals from my personal Twitter account may have unintentionally caused," she said.

In a statement confirming Ms Jones' suspension, NUH also offered "our sincere apologies for the undue upset caused".

"We know the devastation caused to families when we have not delivered the best care in our maternity service and we are committed to engaging with and listening to families in order to make the necessary improvements," it said.

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