East Kent NHS inquiry finds better care might have prevented 45 babies’ deaths

The deaths of at least 45 babies could have been avoided if nationally recognised standards of care had been provided at one of England’s largest NHS trusts, a damning inquiry has found.

Dr Bill Kirkup, the chair of the independent inquiry into maternity at East Kent hospitals university NHS foundation trust, said his panel had heard “harrowing” accounts from families of receiving “suboptimal” care, with mothers ignored by staff and shut out from discussions about their own care.

The inquiry’s report said: “An overriding theme, raised with us time and time again, is the failure of the trust’s staff to take notice of women when they raised concerns, when they questioned their care, and when they challenged the decisions that were made about their care.”

Of 202 cases reviewed by the experts, the outcome could have been different in 97 cases, the inquiry found. In 69 of these 97 cases, it is predicted the outcome should reasonably have been different and it could have been different in a further 28 cases.

Of the 65 babies’ deaths examined, 45 could have had a different outcome if nationally recognised standards of care had been provided.

In nearly half of all cases examined by the panel, good care could have led to a different outcome for the families.

Some of the bereaved parents accused the trust of “victim blaming” mothers for their children’s deaths.

Kelli Rudolph and Dunstan Lowe, whose daughter Celandine died at five days old, said: “Doctors sought to blame Kelli for Celandine’s death. This victim blaming was the first in a long line of interactions with those in the trust who sought to delay, deflect and deny our search for the truth about what happened to our baby.

“In isolation, these tactics traumatised us after the tragedy of our daughter’s death. But when seen in the light of 10 years of failures, they signal a concerted effort to cover up the trust’s responsibility for what happened to Celandine and the many others who lost their lives due to failures in clinical judgment.”

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Source: The Guardian. 19 October 2022