Shropshire families launch petition for national maternity inquiry

Campaigners have launched a petition calling on the government to hold a national inquiry into maternity services.

Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton and Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths spearheaded the inquiry into Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust (SaTH).

In their petition, launched on Saturday, they said they want a "review that leaves no stone unturned".

Mrs Davies said they hope to drive change.

She and her husband, Mr Stanton, began campaigning after their Kate Stanton-Davies died following delays transferring her from Ludlow Community Hospital to a doctor-led maternity unit in March 2009.

Mr and Mrs Griffiths' daughter Pippa died from a Group B Streptococcus infection a day after being born at home in Myddle in 2016.

They fought for many years for an inquiry into the care they received at SaTH.

Led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden it examined cases dating back over 20 years and found more than 200 babies and nine mothers could have been saved.

Ms Ockenden is now leading an inquiry into failings in maternity care in hospitals in Nottingham which will be the largest ever carried out in the UK.

Elsewhere, Stoke Mandeville Hospital has been ordered to improve maternity services by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), while health inspectors considered closing a maternity unit at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust over poor care.

Leicester's NHS hospitals trust has also been issued with a warning notice after inspectors rated safety at two maternity units "inadequate".

Previously, an inquiry into University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust found 20 major failures from 2004 to 2013 at Furness General Hospital.

In their petition, published on Change.org, the group said they want the inquiry because, without it, the "oft repeated national failings will continue to cause avoidable harm and death and devastate families".

Mrs Davies said seeing reports of concerns about care across the country, made them feel the need for a national inquiry, and are calling on the Department of Health to commission it.

"It is to try and raise greater awareness," she said.

"We have tried looking regionally...let's peel back every single layer nationally to get a full picture of where learning needs to happen."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Every parent deserves to feel confident in the care they and their baby receive and we welcome the Care Quality Commission's commitment to monitoring those trusts that are not providing an adequate standard, to ensure improvements are made.

"Nationally, we have invested £165 million a year since 2021 to grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal services and we are promoting careers in midwifery by increasing training places by up to 3,650 over the past four years.

"The Care Quality Commission is also currently inspecting all NHS acute hospital maternity services that have not been inspected and rated since April 2021."

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