Independent inquiry into Leeds maternity failings announced

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced an independent investigation into “repeated failures” at the NHS trust’s maternity units following possible preventable harm to babies and mothers.

Earlier this year, a BBC investigation revealed that at least 56 babies and two mothers had died at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) in the last five years. may be blocked.

Streeting said a full investigation was needed to understand what “went catastrophically wrong” at the trust’s maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital.

In a statement, the foundation told the BBC it had “taken significant steps towards improvements”.

The BBC has so far spoken to more than 70 families who described traumatic care; some cases were more than 15 years old.

These include Fiona Winser-Ramm and Dan Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in Leeds General Infirmary in January 2020. An inquest found “a series of major failings” that “directly contributed” to his death.

Four years later, Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoo’s daughter Asees was stillborn in the same hospital.

Both couples were among a group of grieving Leeds families who wrote to Streeting after the BBC’s initial reporting, demanding an independent investigation.

They later shared their experiences with him personally before the investigation was announced.

“We know that we are not alone and that there are other families going through what we are going through,” Amarjit said.

Fiona added: “We can’t quite believe it yet.”

“I think the scale of this investigation will be huge. There are so many people who don’t yet realize they are victims that the situation will snowball at an alarming rate,” he added.

Streeting said she was “shocked” by the stories of bereaved families and “repeated maternal failures” that were “made worse by the trust’s unacceptable response”.

“I think it is exceptional that there is a Nottingham-style independent investigation in Leeds into failures,” he said.

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust is at the center of a public investigation 2,500 cases of maternal failure will be examined nationally.

Streeting said he hoped the Leeds inquiry would help families learn the truth about what went wrong in their care.

The Ministry of Health has not yet announced the terms of reference for the investigation or details of who will lead it.

Bereaved families want senior midwife Donna Ockenden, who led the review of birth failures in Shrewsbury and Telford and is currently leading the Nottingham review, to also chair the Leeds inquiry.

They said Ms Ockenden had the trust of families and had proven experience of uncovering systematic errors in maternity care.

The BBC had previously spoken those who reported He said the previous rating for LTH was “good” Maternity services did not reflect reality.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), the body responsible for inspecting NHS hospitals, downgraded both of the trust’s maternity units to “inadequate” in June after unannounced inspections raised concerns that women and babies were “at risk of avoidable harm”.

Investigators also noted the foundation’s “blame culture”; this led to staff being reluctant to raise concerns and incidents.

Leeds units too currently part of a rapid national review A campaign for maternity and neonatal services across England was launched in June and led by Baroness Valerie Amos.

Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologized to bereaved families and said he hoped the investigation would provide them with “answers”.

He said: “We are determined to do better. We want to work with families who use our services to understand their experiences so we can make real and lasting improvements.

“I would also like to reassure families in Leeds who will currently be using our services that we have already taken significant steps to make improvements to our maternity and neonatal services, following reviews by the Care Quality Commission and NHS England.”

Families say serious questions now need to be answered about what Sir Julian Hartley, who was in charge of the trust for a decade until 2023, knew about poor maternity care.

He is currently responsible for the Care Quality Commission, the healthcare regulator in England.

In a statement, Sir Julian told the BBC that while he was Chief Executive of the Leeds Trust he was “absolutely committed to providing good patient care across all services, including maternity, but this commitment was not enough to prevent some families from experiencing pain and loss”.

He said he was “really sorry” about this.

Lauren Caufield, whose daughter Grace Kilburn died in 2022 and who also met Streeting, said:

“It is completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date to examine the circumstances surrounding Sir Julian Hartley. We hope the inquest will do this.”

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