In 2017
Rhiannon Davies
Rhiannon Louise Davies and Richard Anthony Stanton are married British activists who worked to establish the truth about the death of their daughter, Kate-Stanton Davies, at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust in 2009. Their efforts led to ...
, her husband Richard and two other bereaved parents, Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths asked the
UK health secretary
The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The incumbent ...
,
Jeremy Hunt
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport ...
, to set up a public inquiry into
maternity services
A maternity hospital specializes in caring for women during pregnancy and childbirth. It also provides care for newborn infants, and may act as a centre for clinical training in midwifery and obstetrics. Formerly known as lying-in hospitals, most o ...
at
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is the main provider of hospital services for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and North Powys. It runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, Oswestry Maternity Unit, and ...
. Though Hunt did not establish a public inquiry, he ordered a review in April 2017. In May 2017
Donna Ockenden
Donna Ockenden is a British midwife and community activist. She was commissioned in 2016 by the then UK Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Hunt, to chair an independent review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital ...
was appointed chair of the review, and it initially investigated 23 cases of potentially significant concern .
As the review uncovered wider evidence of maternity services failings at the trust, with over 60 cases needing investigation, Davies called on Hunt's successor,
Matt Hancock
Matthew John David Hancock (born 2 October 1978) is a British politician who served as Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General from 2015 to 2016, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from January to July 201 ...
, to widen the review's remit. By Jun 2019 hundreds of cases were under investigation. In November 2019 the leaked interim report confirmed Davies' worst fears and vindicated her efforts:
When published in December 2020, the first Ockenden Report singled out the difference made by Davies, Stanton and two other bereaved parents, Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths:
In the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
, Jeremy Hunt also paid tribute to the achievement of the grieving families, for overcoming a 'blame culture' to expose NHS failings.
As a consequence there was an agreement that mothers should not be put under pressure to have a natural birth when a Caesarean section would be safer. However as
James Titcombe
James Roger Titcombe OBE is a patient safety specialist. He was previously, from October 2013 to March 2016, the National Advisor on Patient Safety, Culture & Quality for the Care Quality Commission.
Earlier in his career he was project manager ...
and Nadine Montgomery pointed out, in the week the Ockenden report was published, NHS adverts were still producing messages that promote the role of midwives as ‘guardians of normal birth’. As
Lady Hale
Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, (born 31 January 1945) is a British judge who served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 until her retirement in 2020, and serves as a member of the House of Lords ...
said in her judgement on Montgomery's case: some obstetricians feel "that a vaginal delivery is in some way morally preferable to a caesarean section: so much so that it justifies depriving the pregnant woman of the information needed for her to make a free choice."
The final report of The Ockenden review was published in March 2022 with wide ranging Local Actions For Learning for the local Trust and 15 Immediate and Essential Actions for maternity services across England.
References
{{reflist, 30em
External links
Ockenden Report – Final(250 pages)
*
Summary National Health Service (England)
Maternity in the United Kingdom
Patient safety