Staff urged to contact Nottingham maternity failings review

The review team wants to hear from staff at City Hospital (pictured) and the Queen's Medical Centre

The head of a review into Nottingham's maternity services has promised anonymity to staff who help her inquiry.

Midwife Donna Ockenden said it was vital she heard from Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust employees as she looks into how dozens of babies died or were injured.

Seventy staff have so far got in touch with her review team.

Ms Ockenden's team has also been contacted by more than 700 families.

She told the BBC that nurses, midwives and anaesthetists at the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital - the two main hospitals run by the trust - could have essential information.

Ms Ockenden said: "What we want to hear from them is, if they ever raised concerns - how were they treated?

"Were they treated appropriately? Were they listened to?"

Donna Ockenden has guaranteed anonymity to staff who help her

Ms Ockenden previously led a review of the UK's biggest maternity scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS trust.

She said that experience had demonstrated the importance of assuring staff who helped her could do so anonymously.

Her final report, expected after an 18-month inquiry, would not identify individuals or their roles, she said.

The trust said it had been "actively encouraging all our colleagues to engage with this process".

Ms Ockenden told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We only started the review on September 1 and here we are less than six weeks in - the fact that 70-plus members of staff have come forward is really pleasing.

"What I would say to staff is just like you, my review team are made up of ordinary midwives and doctors on the ground, currently working within the NHS.

"We know that there will be many staff within maternity services at NUH who go in day after day and give their all in providing safe care for mothers and families.

"We also know that often staff will have, or know of, solutions to the problems that are faced.

"We will be absolutely delighted to hear about good practice on the ground."

'Important and vital process'

Ms Ockenden added families who were involved in the previous NHS-led review, which was scrapped in June, should soon receive a letter.

She said: "If a family responds and says they want to be part of Donna Ockenden's review, their information will come across to us.

"The family has a choice whether we listen to their 'listening exercise' from the previous review, or if they wish to have another conversation with us, they are welcome to."

The trust's chief nurse Michelle Rhodes said: "We support Donna Ockenden in calling for all our current and former colleagues to engage with this important and vital process.

"We are committed to making the necessary and lasting improvements to our maternity services and the voices of our staff, as well as those who have received care at our trust, will be invaluable to the review team."