Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust fined for putting babies at risk of ‘serious harm’

A hospital trust has been fined £200,000 for exposing four babies to “serious risk” of harm.

Sheffield Magistrate’s Court heard that staff at Rotherham Hospital failed to detect non-accidental injuries during admissions and District Judge Naomi Redhouse criticised failures in the hospital’s processes and systems.

The Care Quality Commission had earlier highlighted problems with safeguarding training at the trust prior to the babies’ admissions between January 2019 and February 2020.

Ms Redhouse accepted that the prosecution, brought by the health watchdog, was based on the harm children had been exposed to rather than any evidence of actual harm as a result of the hospital’s actions.

Prosecutor Ryan Donohue said failings had been identified in areas including training, reporting, policy implementation, auditing and governance.

Eleanor Sanderson, mitigating for the trust, said “The trust wishes to express to the court its deep regret for the circumstances which gave rise to these offences and the risk posed to those who required safeguarding.

Ms Sanderson added “The trust accepts that its systems and processes were not operating effectively and not sufficiently embedded.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (tonymay@chadlaw.co.uk ), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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