NHS staff called 'heartless' over maternity comments

Staff working for a scandal-hit NHS trust allegedly made "heartless" criticisms about families involved in the largest-ever maternity review and claimed relatives are taking part so they can seek compensation.

Families also said they have been accused of grooming other affected families to join senior midwife Donna Ockenden's independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).

The review began three years ago after allegations of harm to babies and mothers, and now involves nearly 2,500 families.

Trust chief executive Anthony May described the alleged comments made by staff as "shocking".

Speaking at the trust's annual meeting on Wednesday, Mr May said: "Some families very recently have fed back to me shocking examples of being stigmatised or gaslit - criticised for either being part of the independent review or for campaigning for better services.

"Families have heard that they are criticised for being in the review, and that they are in the review on the basis that they are seeking compensation.

"The families tell me that there are instances where they feel they have reason to believe they can trace that back to colleagues that work in NUH."

Dr Jack and Sarah Hawkins, who both used to work for the trust until their daughter Harriet was stillborn in 2016, have been campaigning to highlight failures at NUH ever since.

They described the comments as "horrific" and "unfathomably heartless".

Dr Hawkins said: "We have been called 'compo seekers'.

"There has been a comment made that people are in this group because they have been groomed by Sarah and I and other people who have been around for a long time, and that has come out of NUH.

"We want change. We don't have any other reason to be in this fight.

"The first thing to allow you to change is to recognise that you need to change. And if your attitude is that you don't and that we are, in fact, scamming the system in some way, then it's so disheartening.

"We're not doing this for any reason other than babies are dying and being harmed and mums are dying and being harmed and families are being ripped apart."

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Source: BBC News, 3 September 2025