UHS maternity investigation welcomed

Mr Streeting announced the investigation to look specifically into maternity services at University Hospitals Sussex as part of his national measures to tackle the crisis in NHS provision, acknowledging that the deaths of nine babies in a three-year period at UHS warranted specific investigation.

Bereaved parents have campaigned for the Health Secretary to launch an independent investigation into UHS, and wrote to him in June last year. Mr Streeting has since met with Katie Fowler and Rob Miller, whose daughter Abigail died due to failings at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, to better understand the wishes of families.

The investigation has been welcomed by the group of nine parents who appealed for such a move, but they have called for Mr Streeting to ensure it is all-encompassing, and stressed their desire for it to be led by Donna Ockenden.

The families said: "We are grateful to Wes Streeting for listening to us and instructing an independent review of our nine babies’ deaths at UHS between 2021-2023. Having exhausted all other avenues for truth and learning, we believe this is the only way to understand what happened to cause our babies to die and the only way to uncover the extent of gaslighting that happens in the aftermath of a baby’s death.

"We look forward to working with Mr Streeting on the Terms of Reference of this review to ensure that it highlights systemic failings, produces actionable recommendations, and that other families harmed at UHS have a route to accountability too. We also reiterate our request for Donna Ockenden to lead the review.

“We hope this will help UHS to recognise and publicly take responsibility for the consequences of providing dangerously unsafe maternity care.”

Law firm Slater and Gordon is a longstanding advocate for the need to improve maternity safety, and acts for families across the country who have suffered loss and trauma due to NHS failings.

Principal lawyer Nisha Sharma acts for growing numbers of families who have been failed by UHS, including the family of Abigail Fowler Miller.

“Reform of maternity services is long overdue but we welcome the announcement by the Health Secretary to take steps to address this, and we are particularly pleased at his focus on UHS, which is an essential step in helping bereaved families to get the answers they need around their babies’ deaths,” says Nisha, who is based in Slater and Gordon’s office in Brighton.

“These families have been denied any kind of justice so far and the fact they have had to fight so hard to be heard is heartbreaking and absolutely unacceptable. We are very pleased that Mr Streeting took the time to meet with bereaved parents, and has clearly listened and acted on what they have told him – but we fully support and echo the calls of the families that this investigation must get to the root of this issue and leave no stone unturned. This is absolutely non negotiable and we urge Mr Streeting to ensure this is the case through stringent Terms of Reference.”