Nottingham maternity units still investigating 61 serious incidents

Maternity units at Nottingham's City Hospital and Queen's Medical Centre are the subject of an ongoing review

Managers at crisis-hit maternity units in Nottingham are dealing with a backlog of 61 "serious incident" investigations dating back to 2019.

The term is used to describe unexpected or unintended events that could cause NHS patients harm.

The trust says it aimed to clear the backlog by Christmas.

It comes as a review team led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden examines dozens of baby deaths at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said it understood details of the backlog had not been passed to Ms Ockenden's review team.

Twelve of the incidents involve maternal deaths, neonatal deaths, stillbirths or severe brain injury in babies.

NUH said it aimed to complete the serious incident investigations within 60 days. The backlog dates to 2019.

Board papers showed 54 of the 61 outstanding investigations had exceeded the deadline.

'Not good enough'

NUH's director of midwifery Sharon Wallis told a board meeting in September: "We have a significant number of Serious Incidents. We have a cluster being reviewed. We have support from the regional team to try to get through the backlog.

"We need to understand where things have gone wrong and learn lessons for families.

"I've personally spoken to one of the women [involved] and apologised profusely, because it isn't good enough."

The trust's medical director Dr Keith Girling added: "We are sorry to those people where there has been any form of incident during their care.

"We acknowledge we have a backlog of cases and we are committed to ensuring that there is regular contact with families to keep them updated on the progress of the investigation."

Since Ms Ockenden's independent review team started work last month, more than 700 families and 160 members of staff have contacted them to share their experiences.

The review was set up by the government following a campaign by bereaved families.

The NUH board will be updated on the serious incident investigations at its next meeting on 24 November.