Maternity review leaders says Nottingham units still failing some patients

The leader of a review into maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust has said that a number of the services remain poor for some women.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden is examining how dozens of babies were injured or died at the trust.  As part of an ongoing dialogue with trust managers, she said she had highlighted criticism of interpretation services. She also confirmed that the review would not be in a position to report until September 2025.

Ms Ockenden said that whilst the report would take some time, they had regular meetings with senior staff at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, adding “We’ve just had our fifth learning and improvement with chief executive Anthony May, members of the executive team and NHS England.

“We’ve talked about discrimination, inequality and racism.

“NUH are working hard to improve on this aspect but women that I’m speaking to in the here and now, who are still pregnant or recently had babies, said that interpretation remains poor.”

Maternity services at the trust, which runs City Hospital and Queens Medical Centre, are currently rated as requiring improvement by the Care Quality Commission.

Ms Ockenden said she was “so disappointed” to hear of a new study which showed the healthcare watchdog’s records had deemed two-thirds of maternity departments across the country were not safe enough.

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

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