Additionally, the 250-page report says the review found that 94 babies sustained long-term injuries due to a lack of oxygen at birth. File Photo by Harald Landsrath/Pixabay
March 30 (UPI) — A years-long review into a British hospital system has found that failures in maternity care caused the unnecessary deaths of more than 200 babies over the past two decades, officials said Wednesday.
The inquiry began in 2018 after two families that lost newborns at pushed for an investigation. Their babies died at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, which manages several hospitals within Britain’s National Health Service.
On Wednesday, investigators said they found that 131 stillbirths and 70 neonatal deaths could have been avoided if the care had been better. Additionally, nine mothers died in the review of about 1,600 incidents between 2000 and 2019.
The report also noted that families’ concerns about their babies were often ignored at NHS facilities.
“[The NHS] failed to investigate, failed to learn and failed to improve and therefore often failed to safeguard mothers and their babies at one of the most important times in their lives,” the report says.
The independent review was conducted by nurse Donna Ockenden, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Baby Lifeline.
The 250-page report said the review found that an additional 94 babies sustained long-term injuries due to a lack of oxygen at birth. Some families were told by the hospitals that the mothers were the blame for their own deaths.
“The impact of death or serious health complications suffered as a result of maternity care cannot be underestimated,” Ockenden said in the report. “The impact on the lives of families and loved ones is profound and permanent.
“The families who have bravely contributed to this review know all too well the devastation which follows such events, and has explained to my review team and me that they want this review to answer their questions.”
The investigative report calls for an independent senior advocate within maternal services to listen to families and improve services, and an independent special health authority to investigate maternal deaths for swifter feedback and results.
“Donna Ockenden’s report paints a tragic and harrowing picture of repeated failures in care over two decades, and I am deeply sorry to all the families who have suffered so greatly,” British health secretary Sajid Javid said, according to the Evening Standard.
“Since the initial report was published in 2020 we have taken steps to invest in maternity services and grow the workforce, and we will make the changes that are needed so that no families have to go through this pain again.”
“This has to be a watershed moment for maternity care across this country that a tragedy of this scale can never be allowed to happen again,” said Richard Stanton, who lost a baby in the system in 2009, according to Sky News.
“I would like somebody from the trust to sit face to face with me, and talk to me. They’ve never done that,” added Julie Rowlings, who lost a baby daughter.
