Nottingham: New mums report racism in hospitals, says maternity lead

Donna Ockenden said she heard from scores of new families whose cases would be investigated

"Countless" examples of racist and discriminatory behaviour have been uncovered by a review into failings at Nottingham hospitals' maternity services, the inquiry's leader said.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden is heading a review into 1,813 stillbirths, deaths of mothers or babies, or instances of harm.

A further 70 have since been referred.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust said action was already being taken to address the latest findings.

Ms Ockenden has written a letter to NUH chief executive Anthony May detailing "racist and discriminatory behaviour" being experienced on "countless occasions" by service users "from a range of care givers throughout maternity services".

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In a series of examples, Ms Ockenden said one mother told the review a sheet was thrown at her after she asked for a bloodied bed to be changed.

Another - who had lost her child - said she witnessed a staff member mimicking her accent and mannerisms and colleagues laughing along.

'Difficult reading'

Roma women have told the review they are often given male interpreters, a culturally-insensitive practice, they say, while the hospitals' "safe sleeping" guidance for new mothers is only provided in English.

In her letter, Ms Ockenden highlighted that a number of people had stated non-white patients were treated "more rudely and in a more dismissive way" than their white counterparts at maternity units.

In response, Mr May said Ms Ockenden's findings made "difficult reading" and said the trust had a "determination to address these issues as quickly as we can".

He said a programme of training including cultural competency was under way, and that improvements were planned for its interpreting services.

The trust also plans to increase diversity within its maternity workforce.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust runs both the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital

Ms Ockenden told the BBC: "I was doing a series of home visits with families and unfortunately again heard about racism, discrimination, lack of kindness and rudeness from staff.

"I know that there are staff that go into Queen's, City Hospital, community clinics like the amazing Mary Potter Centre, who give of their all every single day of the week, I know that, I hear that from families too.

"But there's still concerns that come from many members of the community that talk to me and my review team that attitudes can be poor and care is simply not good enough."

'Much more to do'

Mr May told the BBC: "Clearly the most recent feedback makes difficult reading in places, and identifies areas where we must do better. I want to apologise to these women and families for the shortcomings identified.

"I also apologise if anyone has experienced racism in our hospitals - this is not something we will accept, and we are determined to make the trust a more inclusive organisation.

"We know we have much more to do and we are focused on improving our services."

He added the trust was improving, according to the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections.

"However, these improvements must be across the board. I want all our services to be inclusive and I want all of our patients and their families to engage with our services safe in the knowledge that they are free of discrimination," he said.

"I know this isn't always happening but we are reaching out to our communities to learn from the population we serve. We have plans in place to continue to improve translation and interpreting services, to better engage with seldom-heard communities and to show greater cultural awareness, including through planning initiatives such as all-female elective Caesarean and sonography lists."

NUH remains graded as requires improvement overall by the CQC, following inspections in April and June.

Ms Ockenden's review is due to complete its findings by September 2025.

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