Nottingham maternity review: About 1,000 people get in contact

Sarah Hawkins and her husband Jack have campaigned for years for an investigation

More than 750 families and over 200 staff have contacted an ongoing review of maternity services in Nottingham.

Midwife Donna Ockenden is leading a review into failings by Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.

One of the families that fought alongside others for the review to take place said the numbers of people coming forward meant that parents who had felt ignored now had a voice.

The trust said it was doing all it could to support the review.

'Nobody listened'

The review comes after dozens of babies died or were injured at hospitals run by the trust - the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital.

Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet died in 2016, have led calls for an inquiry into failings.

Mrs Hawkins said: "We said at the time there was a problem and frankly nobody listened to us.

"We were made to feel so lonely as if we were an isolated case. That was the case for a lot of people and now we have all come together.

"That feeling like you are on your own is one of the worst feelings ever. I'd just like to reach out to people and say if there's anything we can do, they can contact us families directly too."

Mr Hawkins added: "We've been part of a team of families that have shared this load.

"There are now a lot of us and that gives us a voice."

Donna Ockenden has said her team was ready to support those who had received letters

Ms Ockenden was approached by families in Nottingham after chairing a review into the deaths of more than 200 babies at Shrewsbury in what was the UK's biggest maternity scandal.

Letters have now been sent to more than 1,000 families identifying them as having cases relevant to the Nottingham review.

Ms Ockenden said receiving these letters may be difficult for some families, but she encouraged them to respond and give their consent to join the review.

"It is really important to say that families must respond, because otherwise we can't have access to their medical records," she said.

"Clearly the larger the number of families where my expert team are able to look at the care received, it will have implications for the success of review, but most importantly it will help maternity services in Nottingham improve."

'Frightened' staff

She also encouraged further current and former members of staff to get in contact, and reassured them they would be kept anonymous.

"I think that some staff will perhaps feel frightened, they won't necessarily want to speak up, they may feel perhaps this review 'isn't as confidential as Donna says it is'," she said.

"I give you my word that all off the communication that comes through to our review team is only seen by our review team."

A spokesperson for NUH said: "We are committed to making the necessary and sustainable improvements to our maternity services and this is why we will continue to do all we can to support the work of the independent review."

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