The NHS failing mothers is nothing new

Can Sajid Javid really say, as he did this afternoon in the Commons, that the government is taking action to ensure ‘that no families have to go through the same pain’ experienced by those affected by the biggest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS? The Ockenden inquiry into the maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust published its final report today, concluding that ‘repeated’ failures in care may have led to the deaths of more than 200 babies, and of nine mothers.

The individual stories of stillborn babies, infants severely and sometimes fatally harmed, and women’s pain being dismissed are deeply distressing. What is worse is the way the NHS Trust responded: as I have previously written, it was only down to two bereaved mothers that this scandal was investigated at all. The ‘repeated errors in care’ did not lead to proper reflection which was, the report said, ‘a lost opportunity to prevent further baby deaths from occurring at the trust’.