Nottingham maternity review to be published in June

The findings of the biggest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS regarding failings in Nottingham hospitals will be published next month.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden's independent report about maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) will be published on 24 June.

The review, which involves around 2,500 families, began in September 2022 after allegations of harm to mothers and babies.

Anthony May, the trust's chief executive, who met some of the families affected for the first time at a meeting on Saturday, said the NUH will not "breathe a sigh of relief and move on" after the report, and described it as a "watershed moment".

Ockenden's inquiry has been investigating stillbirths, neonatal deaths, injured babies and mothers, and maternal deaths at NUH.

More than 850 members of staff at the trust - which operates the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital - have come forward to the independent review.

The families will be told whether experts believe the outcome of their case would or could have been different with better maternity care.

Ockenden said: "Families are not just numbers.

"Behind every number is hurt, harm, trauma, sometimes babies who have died, and children who have been left brain damaged."

Melanie, whose daughter Amaya was born at 24 weeks and was in the care of NUH, was invited to be part of the review.

She said Amaya, 10, has brain injury, was profoundly deaf and non-verbal, and has impaired intelligence.

"She doesn't understand danger or situations," she said.

Melanie said the review has taken an "emotional toll on our lives", but hopes the report will provide answers about Amaya's birth.

"There's pressure and stress with it," she said.

"It's difficult because so many people saved Amaya many times, not just once.

"So, to then to be in this process of saying 'hang on a minute, there were things that were wrong'.

"There's a reason why we're in the review, so that's hard," she added.

Dr Jack and Sarah Hawkins, who both used to work for the trust, have been campaigning to expose failures at NUH since their daughter Harriet was stillborn in 2016.

Jack said: "For the first few months, we were terrified that we got this massive thing happening and that there were going to be three families in it - because that's what we were being led to believe - and here we are."

Sarah said they were not listened to and "got no response" after they raised concerns about Harriet's death and the aftercare.

"It's the largest maternity scandal in NHS history and it's horrific," she added.

May welcomed the publication and said the report was "not the end of the road" for improvements in maternity services at the hospitals.

"We will not breathe a sigh of relief and move on when Donna has published this report," he said.

"We won't minimise or trivialise. It is a watershed moment.

"It is no secret our staff have struggled to provide the service.

"What we have heard is we have made mistakes. We have failed women and families going back many years."

He stressed that the trust had improved, but there were further improvements to be made and the findings would be incorporated into the plan.

Ockenden said she will have a role in overseeing the improvements made by the trust after the report is published.

"What absolutely must come is change - change that happens in a meaningful way, a sustained way," she said.

"The trust have shown that commitment to long lasting change."

She added NUH has not waited for the published report, and has been "working on on an ongoing basis" to make changes.

Nottinghamshire Police also launched a corporate manslaughter case last June as part of its wider criminal investigation into maternity failings at NUH, named Operation Perth.

Additional reporting by Verity Cowley.

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