Less than half of staff at maternity scandal trust feel able to speak out

Less than half of staff at scandal-hit Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust feel they can speak up about concerns, according to a staff survey, as a damning report warned serious problems persist in maternity care.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust is one of the worst-performing trusts on the latest national survey of staff for the NHS.

It comes after Donna Ockenden, who chaired a review into maternity failures at the trust, said her “biggest concern” was that staff had been told not to share concerns with her inquiry.

Ms Ockenden told The Independent her biggest concern was “that ordinary staff on the ground are telling me they were advised not to cooperate with the Ockenden review”.

The NHS staff survey, published on Wednesday, showed just 49% of staff at the trust reported they would feel safe enough speaking up about concerns in 2021 – down from 53% in 2020.

Meanwhile, just 34% of staff said they feel their concerns would be addressed if there were to speak up.

The trust is one of the worst three hospital trusts in the country when it comes to rising care concerns, the figures show. Only United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust performed worse.

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Source: The Independent, 31 March 2022