East Kent maternity deaths: Babies may have survived with better care

Up to 45 babies whitethorn person survived if they had received amended attraction astatine East Kent NHS Hospitals Trust, a damning autarkic reappraisal has found.

It recovered a "clear pattern" of "sub-optimal" attraction that led to important harm and families were not listened to.

The aesculapian experts reviewed an 11-year play from 2009 astatine 2 hospitals successful Margate and Ashford.

The autarkic review, which was chaired by Dr Bill Kirkup CBE, added the spot had fixed the quality of "covering up the standard and systemic nature" of its problems.

And it recovered that determination was "no grounds to person america that this rhythm has ended".

Investigators said the spot wrongly took comfortableness from the information astir births astatine East Kent ended with nary harm to parent oregon baby.

And they recovered harm was not conscionable restricted to carnal damage, and determination was repeated deficiency of kindness and compassion adjacent successful the aftermath of injuries and deaths.

Dr Kirkup's squad besides recovered "gross failures" of team-working crossed the trust's maternity services, with immoderate unit acting arsenic if they were liable for "separate fiefdoms, cultivating a civilization of tribalism".

"The dysfunctional moving we person recovered betwixt and wrong nonrecreational groups has been cardinal to the suboptimal attraction provided successful some hospitals," the study said.

The proceeding successful January 2020 recovered Harry's decease astatine The Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) successful Margate was "wholly avoidable".

The spot was fined £733,000 for failing to supply harmless attraction and attraction for him and his parent Sarah Richford.

The Richfords person agelong campaigned for answers aft saying their concerns were repeatedly brushed speech by infirmary managers.

The spot has apologised for Harry's death, which it initially said was "expected". However it was not the archetypal incidental of its kind.

Harry Halligan died successful 2012 pursuing mistakes during his transportation astatine the William Harvey Hospital successful Ashford.

Afterwards, the spot was enactment into peculiar measures by the Care Quality Commission, which rated its maternity services arsenic "inadequate".

Harry Richford's household assertion their babe mightiness not person died if the spot had learned from the decease of Harry Halligan, and person spent years demanding systemic alteration astatine East Kent's maternity units.

Other parents said they felt they were blamed by the spot aft they mislaid their babies.

The reappraisal examined the circumstances of maternity deaths astatine some the QEQM and the William Harvey.

In an email to unit past month, spot main enforcement Tracey Fletcher said the study would marque "harrowing" speechmaking and person a "profound" interaction connected families and colleagues.

Dr Kirkup, who met with families affected during the probe, has led respective reviews, including chairing the probe of Morecambe Bay maternity services.

Speaking up of the report's publication, Dr Kirkup told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "When I reported connected Morecambe Bay maternity services successful 2015, I did not ideate for 1 infinitesimal that I would beryllium backmost successful 7 years' clip talking astir a alternatively akin acceptable of circumstances and that determination would person been different 2 large, high-profile maternity failures arsenic good connected apical of that.

"This cannot spell on. We person to code this successful a antithetic way.

"We can't simply respond to each 1 arsenic if it's a one-off, arsenic if this is the past clip this volition happen. We person to bash things differently."

Nadine Dorries, the erstwhile curate for diligent safety, announced successful February 2020 that the reappraisal astatine East Kent would beryllium held.

The study was primitively intended to beryllium published past month, but was delayed pursuing the decease of Queen Elizabeth II.

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