‘Chaotic’ maternity service was warned of same problems years earlier

A trust given an “inadequate” rating for its “chaotic” maternity service last week had been criticised for many of the same failings only last year by another regulator, it has emerged.

Bethan Harris died in a hospice 10 days after her birth at St George’s Hospital in South London in 2018. She had suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy – a brain injury caused by lack of oxygen – during delivery, according to the coroner’s report.

HSJ has now seen the conclusions of a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report into her death, completed and sent to the trust just last year.

It found that if Ms Heatley had had better care Bethan might have been born in a better condition, as did a 2019 inquest into Bethan’s death, which led to the coroner issuing a “prevention of future deaths” report.

It also shows St George’s University Hospitals Foundation Trust was warned about major problems in the maternity services in 2019 and in the 2022 ombudsman report, but had apparently not dealt with them when the Care Quality Commission inspected in March this year.

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Source: HSJ, 23 August 2023