Nottingham NHS Trust - manslaughter case for maternity

[RedToothBrush]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyvg0vlkk0o

This is overdue

Let's see who they go after. Will it be the board and the senior staff or will it be junior female staff?

More info here: www.ockendenmaternityreview.org.uk/

2,500 - that’s unimaginable. At that scale it has to be a systemic issue. But yes agree Red, they will somehow manage to blame the intern. (Not even) deputy heads will roll.

IANAL but I think this is corporate manslaughter so it would be the trust itself that was prosecuted rather than any individuals. It is notoriously difficult to prove cases like this but it seems as if the investigation as at a fairly advanced stage. I will be following with interest as this is fairly local to me.

That seems to be what they're trying to ascertain right now.

"In such an investigation we are looking to see if the overall responsibility lies with the organisation rather than specific individuals and my investigation will look to ascertain if there is evidence that the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has committed this offence." (police spokesperson)

'A prosecution for corporate manslaughter will only penalise the trust, not the individuals responsible, many of whom are still working today' (parent).

I gave birth in Nottingham city hospital, wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. So many midwives didn't seem to give a shit.

It's terrifying giving birth in England.

After so many traumatic experiences in gynaecology including it taking 15 fucking years to finally get an endometriosis diagnosis and any fucking treatment I had zero faith in any of the staff to actually save me or my baby if it went wrong. Especially after being left waiting for 7 hours when attending for reduced movement.

I hope they get hung out to dry for the way they treat mothers.

If it’s corporate manslaughter it’ll be the board they go after. Interesting because ultimately they could face prison.

so for the last few years since Ockenden money has been thrown at maternity services. More staff, more preceptorship support, more specialist midwives, more training, a bigger maternity training department. But in the last six months the money seems to have dried up nationwide. Staff not getting replaced, ban on bank staff even if that leaves a shift under staffed.

maybe a corporate manslaughter charge might make trust boards move back to better funding. Though sadly it boils down to money available from the govt surely?

the service development fund for maternity services has been slashed from £95milllion last year to £2million this year. https://rcm.org.uk/media-releases/2025/04/shocking-budget-cuts-will-compromise-the-delivery-of-safe-maternity-care-in-every-way-says-rcm/

maybe the heath secretary needs to be in the dock?

95 to 2?!

Surprised they couldn’t pin at least 8 or 9 of these on one of the nurses 🙄

…wouldn’t even matter too much if she wasn’t on shift at the time they died.

95 to 2!?!?!? That's obscene!!!!!

I know! Unbelievable. Just proves what lip service the government are actually paying to improving maternity services. I never thought I’d see the day where a Labour government were doing this! And I’m a labour supporter but this has saddened me beyond belief. Shows what they think of women imho.

I’m glad that after 20 years I’ve left clinical practice. You couldn’t pay me enough to work as a frontline midwife anymore. Not that I’d be able to get a job even I wanted to because there aren’t any as all the trusts are broke! Students qualifying this summer can’t get jobs 😡

Hope this is carried through to court. It's not until senior people are dragged into court for their repeated failings to improve maternity care that things will change.

Obviously money is important in improving services but I think there is a fundamental problem in the way women are treated in the NHS. As one of Knotty's audit team I have read dozens of NHS policies in the last few months. Something I have found increasingly disturbing is how little regard is paid to women in healthcare generally. Lots of fine words about equality, dignity and safety for patients but most EDI policies don't even comply with the law, I have not read a single equality impact assessment that has been adequate, and many of these documents barely mention the word woman. Maternity services have been poor in many hospitals for years and I think its related, not sure how we prove it though.

Ann issue for many Trusts is that they have lots of policies but routinely ignore them. There is a long held view that being the NHS that it is ok due to pressure, demand etc or staff are ok doing things. No longer. The reality is there are several investigations live into NHS Trusts for Manslaughter or serious health and safety things and it will come to a head and people get hung out to dry….and yes some will be middle managers or doctors.
Trusts need to wise up and start to smell the coffee

Sad isn’t it. I’m actually a midwifery lecturer now and the students complain that they get too many lectures on EDI, on women centred care, on holistic care, compassion etc. we weave it throughout the curriculum and it’s something I’m very passionate about.

The students seem to think if they’ve had one lecture on it that’s enough, they’ve ticked that box and don’t need anything else. I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall. I know that maternity services don’t get it right (obviously some individuals do but a lot don’t) so I’m trying to do my little bit from the ground up and hopefully produce cohorts of students that do care. But I know they go into practice and don’t always see good compassionate care modelled to them. And it frustrates me that they are complaining about being taught it too much as I feel does that mean they don’t get the importance of it.??

Alternatively maybe it means they have got it and do it perfectly and don’t need more teaching on it 🤔🤷‍♀️

@MoominUnderWater EDI is very much a box ticking exercise unless its about trans people when it takes on a life of its own with special policies, extra training, special rules and even extra special leave for trans related medical appointments.

I see the board talks about openess and transparency. I think they would be better looking at safety of mothers and babies tbh. I bet they have targets for caesarians and a band of midwives/doctors into natural birth at all costs (hope I am wrong, but I think that was the case at Countess of Chester? - and midwives not listening to mothers, also).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cev404npy4po

Another day. Another hospital scandal. Once again managers cover their own arses, patients are left in the dark and there's a whole culture of secrecy after poor care even after an investigation.

We are going to get a bigger scandal about the management of hospitals generally, soon enough. That is going to change dynamics about informed consent, 'the compliant patient' and standards of doctors and whether they have a god complex that can't be challenged because their status is so high 'because of their value to society' and various medical bodies are overly protective of individuals who are exceptionally incompetent or engage in conduct which puts the public at risk in some way.

It's coming...