Susan Cacciacarro was almost 37 weeks pregnant with her daughter Chiara when she woke up one morning in 2021, unable to feel her baby kicking.
“My belly just didn’t feel right,” she said. “I didn’t feel any movements.”
Chiara, her first child, had been diagnosed with a hole in her heart during a 20-week scan. Since then, Cacciacarro’s pregnancy had been classed as high risk and the growth of her baby had been regularly monitored in hospital.
But when a 34-week scan revealed Chiara had lost weight over the previous two weeks, maternity staff at Worthing hospital in Sussex did not make a plan to expedite her birth, which was planned to take place at 39 weeks.
On the day Cacciacarro woke up and realised Chiara was not moving, she rushed to the hospital, which is run by University hospitals Sussex NHS foundation trust.
Staff were unable to find the baby’s heartbeat and Chiara was delivered stillborn. “I’ve never felt so devastated and so crushed,” Cacciacarro said. “Your world turns upside down and suddenly it’s black.”
She is among the bereaved parents who will give evidence at a major independent review into maternity and neonatal services in Sussex, led by the senior midwife Donna Ockenden.
The review launched on Saturday with a public meeting in Brighton after months of campaigning by bereaved Sussex families. In February, a joint investigation between the New Statesman and the BBC revealed the deaths of at least 55 babies might have been avoidable if they and their mothers had received better care from University hospitals Sussex.
At the meeting on Saturday, Ockenden discussed the review’s terms of reference with the families who will be most affected by it. “We need to get the finer details right to make sure that no family is left behind,” said Cacciacarro, who is now a mother of two. “I felt robbed when we lost Chiara … I’m hoping this review will provide answers to all harmed and bereaved families.”
Source: The Guardian, 7 September 2026
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