Hundreds of Nottingham maternity review families offered psychological help

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden's final report is expected to be delivered in September 2025

More than 250 families involved in a review into maternity care have been referred for psychological support.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden is examining how hundreds of babies died or were injured at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust.

Ms Ockenden said support options had been set up alongside her inquiry.

Mother Felicity Benyon said: "The psychological support is there for people affected by the review. The good thing there is not a fight to get it."

The review, which began in September 2022, is the largest into maternity services ever carried out in the UK.

Ms Ockenden's final report is expected to be delivered in September 2025.

The independent investigation is looking back to April 2012 and covers stillbirths, neonatal deaths, injured babies and mothers and maternal deaths.

So far, the team has been reviewing the cases of 1,898 families.

Donna Ockenden says the review team can also signpost people to local charities and organisations

Ms Ockenden said: "By joining our review families can access really comprehensive psychological support.

"Women and families can access that virtually, face to face, and in some cases there have been home visits.

"It is a fairly large menu of treatment options and women and families can be a part of making that decision about what is right for them. "

Ms Ockenden added her team can make the referral if people were struggling to take the first step with an email or a phone call.

She said: "A woman was in contact with me just last week and she just said to me 'I am a changed person because of the help I have received from the psychological support service and I can't thank you enough'."

Felicity Benyon says the support is helping her confront her trauma

Felicity Benyon, 37, from Mansfield, said she has benefited from the support.

She was fitted with a stoma in 2015 after her bladder was removed in error during an emergency hysterectomy after a Caesarean section.

The mother-of-two has been undergoing a form of psychological trauma therapy, which involves moving your eyes a specific way while you process traumatic memories.

She said: "I would say it is helping me confront the trauma and deal with it rather than push it to the back of my mind."