How The Independent exposed the Nottingham maternity scandal
In just two years since The Independent first exposed the Nottingham maternity scandal allegations of harm have grown from dozens to 1,500.
In 2020 an expose by The Independent found evidence of repeated poor care, spanning a decade, at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, with parents forced to fight to find out the truth about what happened to their child.
The investigation, with Channel 4, found 46 cases of babies who’d been left with permanent brain damage and 19 still-births and 15 deaths.
Several families and staff came forward to The Independent with stories of failings by the trust, including Gary and Sarah Andrews whose daughter Wynter died just 23 minutes after her birth.
Families, including the Andrews, have faced a lack of transparency the trust after mistakes in care, with key medical notes missing or inaccurate as well as failures to investigate serious incidents and reports being watered down.
Whistle-blowers also raised fears over a lack of staff, with the trust telling The Independent it was fighting to fill 70 full-time vacancies for midwives.
The scale of failings prompted chancellor Jeremy Hunt, when he was chair of the health select committee to call for an inquiry into the scandal.
Following The Independent’s expose, a major review was commissioned in July 2020. However, this review has since been superseded by a new independent review led by Donna Ockenden, who chaired the Shrewsbury maternity scandal inquiry.
Within just months of the new review being launched hundreds of families came forward. In November The Independent revealed the number of cases to be investigated is expected to hit at least 1,500.
In December 2021 Jack and Sarah Hawkins won a clinical negligence claim against the trust over the death of their daughter Harriet. The trust was forced to pay £2.8 million to the couple.
Now following a criminal prosecution, brought by The Care Quality Commission, the trust was fined a record £800,000, for failings in the care of Wynter Sophia Andrews and her mother. This is the highest fine ever awarded for maternity failings following a CQC prosecution.
The prosecution of NUH comes after the findings of the Shrewsbury Maternity inquiry last year which found 300 babies had died or had been left with brain injuries due to care failings by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital trust.
