POTENTIALLY hundreds of babies have died or been left disabled after a hospital trust “messed up”, families claim.
“I don't want anyone else to have their baby die,” warned Alice, one of hundreds of grieving parents calling for an independent inquiry into maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUH).
The mum, from Oxford, is among more than 350 families who say catastrophic failures at mum-and-baby units at OUH left babies dead or with life-changing disabilities.
In 2021, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) dropped the trust’s rating from “good” to “requires improvement” after a whistleblower raised concerns.
However, the trust told BBC News it “thoroughly” reviews every case “to determine if any aspects could have been managed differently”.
Alice said her pregnancy was initially low risk, but a 20-week test flagged potential complications due to a failing placenta. Despite this, scans were stopped at 36 weeks.
“I called and pointed out that I am high risk, and they just said ‘we don't do that,' so I trusted it was safe,” she said.
When her daughter died, she “didn't want to believe that they'd messed up.”
“This is something you live with for the rest of your life. She lost her entire life.”
Alice and her partner have been left with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression.
“There needs to be an inquiry. There are preventable deaths happening. I don't want anyone else to have their baby die,” she told BBC Radio Oxford.
It comes as hundreds of women who faced issues with maternity care at the John Radcliffe (JR) Hospital in Oxford created a campaign group to share their experiences.
The hospital is run by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), which also oversees three other hospitals in the Oxford and Banbury area.
Figures from Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries (MBRRACE-UK) revealed that in 2023, OUH had a stillbirth rate of 3.6 per 1,000 births – the highest in its group, where the average is 3.42 per 1,000.
OUH chief nursing officer Yvonne Christley defended the trust, saying she was “proud of the dedication of our midwives, obstetricians, and support staff.”
“I am pleased that most women report having had a good experience with our services. Unfortunately, there are times when things do not go as planned.”
She said the trust provides bereavement support in “tragic situations” and examines each case to “determine if any aspects could have been managed differently”.
The trust claims its stillbirth rate has fallen each year since 2021 but remains “slightly higher than the average for our comparator group”.
“While the difference in rates is minimal and the numbers are small, the trust is examining each case to understand the possible causes of this discrepancy and to determine if it is related to any issues in care.”
‘Humiliating aftercare'
New mothers have also complained about the treatment they endured whilst in the JR maternity ward, describing how they felt “highly vulnerable”;.
One woman, Oria Malik, told the BBC: “I just felt really isolated because I couldn’t communicate to anyone how much pain I was in.”;
She went on to recount “humiliating”; aftercare, being dealt with in such a rough manner by a nurse inserting a cannula that she “ended up with a blood clot”;.
In a statement OUH said: “The safety and wellbeing of mothers and babies in our care is central to our maternity services.”
Oria also spoke of how a worker would leave the curtain open to her bed, explaining that “[t]here were people and families in the beds opposite who could see me laying in bed – I didn’t have any clothes on”;.
Others in the group described similar experiences, with one of the founders of the group, Rebecca Matthews, saying she had endured “inhumane”; care at the JR Hospital.
Having spoken to other mothers who had also faced such treatment, it was then that she “realised how serious the issues were with OUH’s maternity services more widely”;.
MATERNITY CARE DECLINING FOR YEARS
A REPORT by the Care Quality Commission last year found maternity care has been on the slide
It said patient experience has shown a “concerning decline”.
Fewer women are getting the help they needed, compared to five years ago, the 2023 report said.
Victoria Vallance, from the CQC, said: “These results show far too many women feel their care could have been better.
“This reveals a concerning decline over time.”;
The watchdog, which polled 21,000 women who gave birth in February 2022, found 80 per cent were happy with services but said there were notable declines since 2017.
Mothers reported being less likely to always get help during or after childbirth or to be asked about their mental health.
