Press Release from Donna Ockenden
Sat 11th July, 2020
INDEPENDENT REVIEW INTO MATERNITY SERVICES AT THE SHREWSBURY AND TELFORD HOSPITALS NHS TRUST ENTERS NEXT PHASE
Donna Ockenden, Chair of the Independent Maternity review into care at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust has confirmed today that the total number of family cases the review team is now looking into stands at 1862.
Following an ‘Open Book’ review in 2018 which largely focused on electronic records, a call for families to come forward and a further search of paper records a further 496 families were identified to give 1862 cases.
“The Trust have worked closely with the review team throughout this process and have provided us with all requested information. I would like to thank them for all the work undertaken to reach this point. By working together we have sadly identified a further 496 families as part of the review, who I am writing to this week.”
Families who wish to raise a concern about the care they have received, should do so directly with the Trust by contacting: [email protected] or by phone to the Patient Advice and Liaison Service on: 01952 641222 extension 4382.
All efforts are now focusing on the completion of clinical reviews by the independent maternity review team to enable the final report to be published. Donna Ockenden further explained:
“it’s now really important that we focus our efforts on getting all clinical reviews completed so that we can make meaningful recommendations to improve services and give families the answers they have asked for. We intend to have initial, emerging recommendations for maternity services published at the end of the year.
In order to give ourselves the time to write the final report, any new cases that come to light from now on will need to go directly to the Trust, for them to consider, rather than them coming to the maternity review team.”
These additional families will be written to telling them that their maternity care at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust has been referred to the independent review team. The letters to families discuss the Terms of Reference which explain the work of the Independent review team. The Terms of Reference can be found here:
The letters also provide information to enable families to make a choice as to whether they want their care to be reviewed by the independent team.
Donna Ockenden finished by adding:
“I have made a commitment to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care that we will undertake our work with the care and the independence it deserves and we will publish the final report as quickly as we can. I want to assure families that their experiences are important to us and that our independent team of midwives and doctors continue to ensure that family voices remain central to everything we do.”
Background notes:
This Independent Maternity review was commissioned by Jeremy Hunt in 2017, when he was Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, following concerns raised by the parents of Kate Stanton-Davies who died shortly after birth in 2009 and Pippa Griffiths, who died just after she was born in 2016.
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]