At least 45 baby deaths could have been avoided at two Kent hospitals, report into maternity care at NHS trust finds

At least 45 baby deaths could have been avoided at two Kent hospitals, a report into maternity services at an NHS trust has found.

Dr Bill Kirkup, chair of the independent inquiry into maternity at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said his panel had heard “harrowing” accounts from families receiving “suboptimal” care.

He said mothers had been ignored by staff and shut out from their own care.

“An overriding theme, raised us with time and time again, is the failure of the trust’s staff to take notice of women when they raised concerns, when they questioned their care, and when they challenged the decisions that were made about their care,” the report said.

The investigation into the care provided to women and babies examined more than 200 cases of poor care dating back to 2009.

It was commissioned in 2020 following growing concerns over the quality of care at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate and the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

The report found that had care been given to nationally recognised standards, the outcome could have been different in 45 of the 65 baby deaths and different in 97 of the 202 cases assessed.

With 33 of those 45 baby death cases, the outcome would reasonably be expected to have been different, while 12 might have been different.

Meanwhile, in 17 cases of brain damage, 12 (72%) could have had a different outcome if good care had been given, of which nine should reasonably have been expected to have had a different outcome.

In nearly half of all cases examined, good care could have led to a different outcome for the families.

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“The panel has not been able to detect any discernible improvement in outcomes or suboptimal care, as evidenced by the cases assessed over the period from 2009 to 2020,” the report said.

“We have no doubt that these numbers are minimum estimates of the frequency of harm over the period.”

The report was chaired by Dr Kirkup, who also led the investigation in 2015 into deaths of mothers and babies at the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust.

In a press conference, Dr Kirkup said a culture of “deflection and denial” within NHS trusts when they are questioned about potential cases of substandard care is a “cruel practice” that “needs to be addressed”.

“This is a cruel practice that ends up with families being denied the truth,” he said.

“That’s a terrible way to treat somebody in the name of protecting your reputation.”

The family of Harry Richford, who died a week after he was born in November 2017, have been campaigning for answers after saying their concerns were repeatedly brushed aside by hospital managers. An inquest ruled his death was “wholly avoidable” and the trust was fined £733,000.

Last October, the Care Quality Commission (QCQ), which inspects hospitals, again expressed concerns over the trust, which it has repeatedly ranked as “requires improvement”.

It said during unannounced inspections in July 2021 that there were not enough midwifery staff members and maternity support workers to keep women and babies safe.

Inspectors said those working felt exhausted, stressed and anxious, while some community midwives had taken on additional work in the acute units, which meant they were sometimes working 20-hour days.

The government is expected to respond to the report later today.