Independent review of maternity services at
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

News and Updates

November 2021

Publication of the second report of the Independent Maternity Review

The Review Team has been liaising with NHS England and Improvement and the Department of Health and Social Care and can now confirm that the second report of the Independent Maternity Review of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust will be published no later than 24 March 2022. 

The second report will build upon the work of the first report to ensure the Local Actions for Learning and Immediate and Essential Actions are strengthened and implemented at the Trust and across the wider maternity system in England. We have already seen some excellent progress and significant amounts of new funding for maternity services across England since the publication of the first report.

Thank you for your patience, an update on the precise date of publication will be provided as soon as possible.

November 2021

Bereavement Training International awarded endorsement by the Neonatal Nurses Association 

The Review Team and I are pleased that the good work of Bereavement Training International (BTI) has been endorsed by the Neonatal Nurses Association (NNA) – an organisation dedicated to improving outcomes and recognising the contributions made to the lives of mothers and babies by neonatal nurses. 

Neonatal Nurses Association endorsement is awarded following a thorough review process in which the applicant must demonstrate the quality of their training event and its relevance to its members. 

Paula Abramson, Principal of Bereavement Training International, is a key member of the maternity review team. Paula and other team members work hard to support families engaged in the review, alongside SANDS, Child Bereavement UK, and Midlands Partnership. 

We hear from families on a regular basis how well supported they have felt and Bereavement Training International has been a considerable part of this support. It is great to see the work of BTI and its support of families is being recognised. 

November 2021

Additional maternity investment

We welcome the Government’s announcement to invest a further £3 million for the second phase of a programme to improve maternity care and reduce brain injuries at birth, bringing total investment to over £5 million. On Friday 5 November, the Minister for Patient Safety Maria Caulfield announced the additional funding.

These funds will enable the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), in partnership with the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute at the University of Cambridge (THIS Institute) to develop a national programme of tools and training products that supports maternity services across the country.  

The programme will help achieve the Government’s ambition to halve the rate of brain injury during or soon after birth by 2025.

Maternity staff on the ground, as well as women and their families, will be able to be involved at thiscovery.org/abc in developing training, tools, and products for improving the maternity outcomes of mothers and babies. 

Find out more about how the funding will be used to improve the safety of women and babies here.

August 2021

Police expanding Shropshire maternity scandal investigation team

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August 2021

The Independent’s special webinar

The NHS Maternity Scandal: Inside a crisis

The safety of maternity services has not been far from the news of late, with a growing number of examples of poor care, with recent examples including East Kent Hospitals University Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals Trust.

On Wednesday 11 August, Donna Ockenden, Chair of the Independent Maternity Review at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, spoke as part of a panel for The Independent’s special webinar The NHS Maternity Scandal: Inside a crisis. This panel was chaired by Shaun Lintern and the other panelists included: Dr Eddie Morris, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and James Titcombe, a patient safety campaigner and bereaved father.

You can see the article in The Independent and a recording of the webinar here. The link will take you to an article where you can register to watch the webinar free of charge.

July 2021

Detectives from West Mercia Police have been given £4.6 million in funding from Home Office.

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July 2021

Donna Ockenden to join a virtual Panel discussion hosted by The Independent newspaper to discuss maternity services across the NHS. 

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July 2021

NMC response to the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on the Safety of Maternity Services in England

On Tuesday 6 July, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) published their response to the Health and Social Care Committee’s report on the Safety of Maternity Services in England. You can view the Committee’s report here. 

The Health and Social Care Committee’s report outlines that whilst the NHS offers some of the safest maternal and neonatal outcomes in the world, there remains worrying variation in the quality of maternity care which means that the safe delivery of a healthy baby is not experienced by all mothers. 

Since shocking failures were uncovered at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust there has been a concerted effort to improve the safety of maternity services in England. However, major concerns have since been raised at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. There can be no complacency when it comes to improving the safety of maternity services and it is imperative that lessons are learnt from patient safety incidents. 

The report addresses the following issues related to maternity safety in England: 

·         Supporting maternity services and staff to deliver safe maternity care 

·         Learning from patient safety incidents 

·         Providing safe and personalised care for all mothers and babies

The key points of the NMC response are:

The impact of poor maternity care on women and their families can be devastating. But such dreadful experiences are not inevitable. As the Committee highlights, all of us working in maternity services need to focus on delivering positive and sustainable improvements necessary to deliver safe, kind and effective care every time.

As the professional regulator for key members of the maternity multi-disciplinary team, the NMC has an important role to play, particularly in supporting the implementation of our Future Midwife standards in midwifery education and practice.

We welcome the Committee’s recommendation that we should focus on helping to end the blame culture. We will always act to protect the public where necessary, but professionals must feel confident about speaking up when mistakes happen so they don’t happen again. Our new approach to fitness to practise and the promise of regulatory reform mean we can do just that.

The families whose cherished dreams have been shattered and maternity services staff who want to provide great care deserve nothing less.

June 2021

The next meeting of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHs Trust Ockenden Report Assurance Committee will be held on the 24th June .

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