‘Angry’ families to launch their own maternity inquiry after losing faith in NHS probe

Dozens of families say they have been forced to launch their own inquiry into a troubled maternity care service after being shut out by an NHS review.

More than 70 families who claim they were harmed by maternity care in Swansea are set to launch a “family-led” maternity review after they lost faith in an inquiry commissioned by Swansea Bay Health Board.

Leading maternity safety expert, Donna Ockenden warned the Health Board had “failed” families and that the current review would be “worthless and meaningless” without their engagement.

Swansea Bay University Health Board in Wales announced it would commission an independent review into its maternity and neonatal services following concerns raised by families over deaths and injuries to babies during birth and by women who have suffered traumatic births due to alleged poor care.

However, nine months on from the review announcement, families now feel they have been ignored by the review’s key staff and believe the process is not independent of the health board.

Rob and Sian Channon lead the Swansea Bay Maternity Campaign Group. Their son, Gethin, was born in March 2019 at Singleton Hospital, and due to multiple failings by the maternity service, he now suffers from quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a severe disability that requires care 24 hours a day.

An independent review by Dr Bill Kirkup in 2022 into Gethin’s care, found several failings and revealed the hospital tried to “downplay” the mistakes it made.

Mr Channon told The Independent: “We lost faith months ago.”

This came after families felt ignored by those directing the review including the former chair who declined to meet with families directly.

He said: “We’ve just become really angry that we’re having to do this now. We can’t let what happened to Gethin happen to others. I’m furious, I’m sickened about this, I’ve been dealing with this since December, we didn’t want it it’s not our job to fix that maternity unit.”

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Source: The Independent, 8 October 2024