Adele O'Sullivan: Mother calls for public inquiry after baby's death

The mother of a baby girl who died just 26 minutes after being born has backed calls for a public inquiry into maternity services in Nottingham.

It comes after a coroner found there were "missed opportunities" relating to the care of Daniela O'Sullivan and her daughter Adele.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has apologised to the family.

A Care Quality Commission report had previously labelled maternity services at the trust as "inadequate".

The inquest into Adele's death follows several other inquests into the deaths of babies born at Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre, which are both managed by the trust.

Speaking after the inquest into her daughter's death, Mrs O'Sullivan said: "The whole family is truly devastated by the death of Adele, and we have completely lost our trust in the system.

"We are yet another Nottingham family affected by baby death, therefore we are adding our voice to the calls for a full independent public inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust."

Sue Saddington, chair of Nottinghamshire County Council's health scrutiny committee, has previously written to the government calling for a public inquiry.

The families of two other babies - Wynter Andrews and Harriet Hawkins - have also called for a public inquiry themselves.

Adele O'Sullivan was born and died at Nottingham City Hospital on 7 April 2021, after being born prematurely at 29 weeks.

Elizabeth Didcock, assistant coroner for Nottinghamshire, said there had been a delay in examining Mrs O'Sullivan, a delayed recognition of her being in labour, and a delayed diagnosis of the cause of her vaginal bleeding.

The coroner described these as "missed opportunities", but could not say whether or not they led to Adele's death.

In her findings, the coroner said: "But for these missed opportunities, would the outcome have been different in this case and would Adele have survived?

"On the evidence before me, I find that it is certainly possible, but for all of the reasons set out in this judgment, I cannot and do not find this on a balance of probabilities."

Adele's cause of death was severe intrapartum hypoxia, meaning there had been a lack of oxygen.

The hypoxia was caused by a placental abruption, which occurs when the placenta separates from the inner wall of the uterus before birth.

Mrs O'Sullivan said: "Adele's post-mortem showed no genetic or physical abnormality. Despite her early arrival, she would have been a happy and healthy baby and it is extremely painful to think how she could be here with us today.

"We are distraught that I was put to the back of the queue and not reviewed by doctors for hours until it was too late."

A review into maternity services at the trust is currently under way, after being announced by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in July.

It was announced after reports that 46 babies suffered brain damage and 19 were stillborn between 2010 and 2020.

Sharon Wallis, director of midwifery at the trust, said they apologised "from the bottom of our hearts for the delay in our medical team reviewing Mrs O'Sullivan".

"We realise this may not have affected this heart-breaking outcome, but our teams are committed to learning from this case," she said.

"Since the summer of 2021, we have new leadership in maternity and we are working with our teams and healthcare partners to make improvements to our service as quickly and efficiently as we can."

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