Bereaved families call for England-wide inquiry into maternity care

Families whose babies have been harmed or have died in the care of the NHS are calling for a statutory public inquiry into maternity services throughout England.

The Maternity Safety Alliance has written to Health Secretary Steve Barclay following repeated scandals and reports into a number of NHS trusts which have revealed poor levels of care and concerns over culture.

The families argue that only a judge-led, statutory public inquiry can command the confidence of families and arrive at conclusions “free of party politics”.

The alliance say babies “are too precious to keep on ignoring the reality that, despite a raft of national initiatives and policies implemented in the wake of investigations and reports, systemic issues continue to adversely impact on the care of women and babies”.

Previous investigations into maternity services include those for Morecambe Bay, which found 20 major failures, Shrewsbury and Telford which found catastrophic failures may have led to the injuries and deaths of over 300 babies and nine mothers, and East Kent, which concluded that dozens of babies may have survived if they had received better care.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said every parent deserved to feel confident in the care they and their baby receive, and that they welcomed the Care Quality Commission’s commitment to monitoring trusts that are “not providing an adequate standard, to ensure improvements are made”.

They added “Nationally, we have invested £165m a year since 2021 to grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal services and we are promoting careers in midwifery by increasing training places by up to 3,650 over the past four years.

“The Care Quality Commission is also currently inspecting all NHS acute hospital maternity services that have not been inspected and rated since April 2021.”

Chadwick Lawrence’s Legal 500 recommended West Yorkshire medical negligence solicitors and birth injury solicitors, have over 20 years of experience and specialist expertise in medical negligence investigations and claims, including cerebral palsy claims and other birth injury claims, supporting injured clients and their families through the legal process and helping them obtain answers, justice and compensation after life-changing events.  We have offices in Huddersfield, Wakefield, Halifax, Leeds, Bradford and Morley and represent clients locally and nationally.

If you or a relative have been injured as a result of clinical/medical negligence, please call for free legal advice from our medical negligence lawyers on the freephone number below or e-mail us.

Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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