It has been reported this week that the report into the review of maternity service failings at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust will be delayed until June 2026 because hundreds more families will be added to the inquiry.
Senior Midwife, Donna Ockenden, is the Chair of the Review. It is the largest of its kind that has taken place in the UK, and it began in September 2022. There are currently more than 2000 families involved in the inquiry, and that number is expected to increase to around 2500 before it is complete.
It was revealed this week that 300 more families will be added to the review after a file of maternity documents was restored after being deleted. The cause of the deletion has been investigated but could not be determined. The Trust has put in place measures to ensure that the same thing does not happen again.
In another news article this week, it was reported that families under the care of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust had agreed to terminate pregnancies after mistakenly being told that their unborn babies had serious genetic conditions.
One family shared that there had been a mistake with a test to check for the risk of Down’s Syndrome, but they were only told this after they had terminated the pregnancy at 14 weeks.
Another family was told that their baby could have a life-limiting condition, which prompted the difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy. A post-mortem revealed that their baby did not have the condition and would have been born healthy.
Care provided by the foetal medicine services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in cases such as those above will also be reviewed by Donna Ockenden and her team as part of the review into Nottingham’s maternity services.
You can read more about this story on the BBC website if you click here.
Quote from author. Gemma Lewis, Partner and Specialist Medical Negligence Solicitor from MDS, said “We have been following the Nottingham Maternity Review since it began. The number of families involved in the review is deeply shocking, and we have to hope that the findings will lead to lasting change for maternity services across the UK.”
MDS is a specialist medical negligence law firm. We specialise in claims involving cancer, maternity, and cauda equina syndrome. Our expert solicitors represent clients all around England and Wales, and we are dedicated to helping people who have been injured by medical negligence.
Our solicitors have extensive experience of representing clients and their families whose lives have been affected by failures in maternity care. Click here to read more about how we can help you, and here to read one of our client’s stories.
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