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THE FULL list of 14 hospital trusts to be probed for “failures” in NHS maternity and neonatal services has been revealed.
The inquiries are part of a rapid review of maternity care in England announced in June.
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It comes as experts warned that mums and babies are at risk due to “toxic” cover-up culture in the NHS.
The investigation will be led by Baroness Amos with the aim of improving England’s maternity and neonatal care, riddled with systemic problems dating back more than 15 years.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said bereaved families would be at the heart of the investigation, saying they had shown “extraordinary courage” in coming forward.
“What they have experienced is devastating and their strength will help protect other families from enduring what they have been through,” he stated.
“I know that NHS maternity and neonatal workers want the best for these mothers and babies, and that the vast majority of births are safe and without incident, but I cannot turn a blind eye to failures in the system.
“Every single preventable tragedy is one too many.
“Harmed and bereaved families will be right at the heart of this investigation to ensure no-one has to suffer like this again.”
The investigation which comes after various independent reviews across multiple trusts uncovered a string of failures putting mums and babies at risk – including women being ignored, safety concerns overlooked and poor leadership creating toxic cultures.
The 14 trusts under the spotlight include:
- Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust
- Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Oxford University Hospital
- Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust
- Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
- The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn
- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
- University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
- University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
- Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust / Somerset NHS Foundation Trust
Baroness Amos is set to make national recommendations for improvements at the conclusion of the probe.
She said “it is vital” that the experiences of mums and affected families are at the heart of the investigation from its “very beginning” and are “fully heard”.
“Their experiences – including those of fathers and non-birthing partners – will guide our work and shape the national recommendations we will publish,” Baroness Amos added.
“We will pay particular attention to the inequalities faced by black and Asian women and by families from marginalised groups, whose voices have too often been overlooked.”
Mr Streeting opted for the rapid review instead of a national inquiry into maternity care, which many families have been calling for.
He ordered it earlier this year after meeting with parents whose infants died or were seriously injured due to hospital failings.
The review will begin with the worst performing maternity services in England and then look at the country as a whole, with a report due to be published in December.
The Health Secretary said at the time that grieving families had been “gaslit, lied to, manipulated and damaged further” in their search for the truth due to trusts refusing to admit to failures in care.
He pledged to do “everything in [his] power” to prevent more families from suffering due to maternity service failings.
Research by the baby loss charities Sands and Tommy’s suggests that improved maternity care may have prevented the deaths of over 800 babies’ lives in 2022-23.
However, bereaved families have criticised the investigation as “not fit for purpose”.
Mum Emily Barley, whose baby daughter Beatrice died in 2022, called for a public inquiry.
“We feel really, really let down,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“What we’re asking for is for the investigation in this format to be scrapped and for us to have a statutory public inquiry, which is the only way for us to get into all the issues in all their detail and complexity.”
Baroness Amos told the programme: “I want to make sure that the systems and processes are in place that enable the families to get the justice that they want and that they deserve.
“What we have now is completely unacceptable.”
Charles Massey, chief executive of the General Medical Council (GMC), is set to tell delegates at the Health Service Journal patient safety congress today that toxic workplace environments where trainee doctors are fearful of speaking up are putting mums and babies in harm’s way.
“Too often, patient safety is falling victim to unhealthy culture,” Mr Massey will say.
“The unthinkable – harm to mothers and their babies – is at risk of being normalised.
“And toxic culture is in no small part to blame.”
An independent inquiry into maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals Trust previously found that potentially hundreds of babies had died or been left with life-changing disabilities.
Another found that 201 babies and nine mothers had needlessly died at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
‘Unimaginable harm’
Health bodies have stressed that the announcement of trusts to be probed will cause anxiety among women, families and staff alike.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) called for staff and families to be supported during “what will inevitably be a difficult process”.
It also called on the review to make it easy for staff to raise their concerns.
RCM chief executive Gill Walton said: “When this investigation was first announced it was described as a ‘rapid review’ that would report by December.
“It is vital this work gets under way quickly so that the families who have suffered unimaginable harm get the answers they need and hard-pressed maternity staff get the support and investment they’ve been calling for. “
She added: “It should not be the case that, in 21st century Britain, black and Asian women are disproportionately more likely to die during childbirth or soon after, or that their babies are more likely to have poorer outcomes.
“The RCM is pleased that this investigation will address this, alongside the inequalities facing women from deprived backgrounds.”
What was the ‘biggest NHS maternity scandal’?
Some 201 babies and nine mothers needlessly died in the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history, at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
An inquiry by top midwife Donna Ockenden found a litany of devastating errors, with the findings revealed in March 2022.
It found maternity units were short-staffed for years and bosses refused to take responsibility for mistakes.
Alongside the tragic deaths, 94 babies suffered life-changing brain injuries as a result of “catastrophic” care.
Nearly 1,500 families were devastated by death, injury and disability.
The report looked at more than 1,800 complaints at the Midlands hospitals, with most from between 2000 and 2019.
It found 40 per cent of stillbirths had not been investigated by the trust, similarly with 43 per cent of neonatal deaths.
It led staff members to come forward and paint a picture of a “clique with a culture of undermining and bullying”, where concerns were ignored by bosses.
The investigation found an obsession with keeping caesarean section rates low and promoting “natural births” needlessly cost lives.
Some women were even blamed for their own deaths, while major incidents were “inappropriately downgraded” to avoid scrutiny. Patient concerns were dismissed.
The “toxic culture” was left unchecked for more than two decades.
Ms Ockenden warned the failings identified by her report were “not unique” and called for all maternity units in England to be overhauled.
Professor Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “It is vital that the review process now brings everyone together with compassion, a commitment to transparency and appropriate support.
“Too many women and babies are not getting the safe, compassionate care they deserve and the maternity workforce is on its knees, with staff leaving the profession.”
Rory Deighton, director of the acute network at the NHS Confederation, said it is “vital that we learn from failings in maternity services so that care can be made safer for all women and babies”.
He said: “NHS leaders and their teams work very hard to keep mothers and their babies safe but accept that there needs to be improvements in maternity services.
“There are ongoing challenges around safety, equity and staffing shortages and this inquiry presents an important opportunity to support front-line maternity services to improve where needed.”
It comes after the Government published a new scoring system for NHS hospitals failing to perform to standard.
The damning rankings show just 27 out of 134 of major hospitals make it into the best-performing tier one or two.
The remaining 107 fall into tier three or four, meaning they are the “most challenged” and offering poor care or failing to balance the books.
Just 16 hospitals are in tier one serving as good examples for the rest.
Under NHS rules, patients have the right to be treated at another hospital if theirs is bad.
Meanwhile, it was revealed that nearly half of Brits with cancer are waiting longer than a month to get their diagnosis.
