‘OUH needs to be included in maternity investigation’, says campaign group
A campaign group says OUH has “poor maternity care, and to some extent negligent”.
A campaign group in Oxfordshire is calling Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) Trust to be included in the investigation into England's maternity services, following "poor" and "negligent" care.
The Government announced yesterday that a new maternity investigation is set to focus on the 10 "worst performing" maternity services in England which will consist of two parts.
The first will investigate up to 10 of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units in the coming weeks to give affected families answers as quickly as possible, according to the Department of Health.
The second will be a "system-wide" look at maternity and neonatal care, uniting lessons from past maternity inquiries to create one clear set of actions designed to improve national NHS care.
Officials have confirmed there will be local reviews into services in Leeds and Sussex, with the other areas to be confirmed "shortly".
Kim Thomas is co-founder of Families Failed by OUH and is calling for the Trust to be included as part of the investigation.
She said: “We now have more than 430 families in the Facebook group who have suffered considerable harm as a result of poor maternity care, and to some extent negligent maternity care.
“We've heard we've heard some really shocking stories about very basic errors being made, often compounded then by sort of callous care, lack of compassion, very often poor post-natal care and an unwillingness to admit their problems.
“So, there's kind of a whole package of things going wrong at OUH.”
Speaking about some of the experiences of families, Ms Thomas said: “We've had quite a few stories of babies who have died, either still born or shortly after birth and stories of babies who have been brain injured as well.”
Ms Thomas added: “We think this is a time for the review to listen to families and make some serious recommendations about improving maternity units in the country – but particularly for OUH to sit, listen, reflect and decide to do better.”
The NHS paid out £2.8 billion in compensation last year, with 41% of all payouts related to maternity care, according to data obtained by the Liberal Democrats from the House of Commons Library
Yvonne Christley, Chief Nursing Officer at Oxford University Hospitals, said: “We are a specialist maternity service that focuses on managing and providing expert care to complex pregnancies and births across a wide region.
“Our midwives and clinicians work hard to ensure the best possible experience and outcomes for mothers and their babies. However, there are times when things do not go as planned. In such cases, we conduct a thorough review of every detail to determine if any aspects could have been managed differently. We are never complacent and welcome all feedback, whether positive or negative, as we learn from both.
“The Trust is dedicated to maintaining an ongoing and open dialogue with community groups, service user, and advocacy organisations and acknowledges the significant role that campaign groups play in expressing concerns and advocating for improvements. The Trust has offered to meet with the campaign group and is eager to collaborate with them to implement the necessary changes and restore confidence in our services.
“We are also keen to meet with the affected families, as we understand that this is a crucial step towards demonstrating our commitment to directly addressing the issues being raised. These meetings are currently being scheduled.”