Maternity scandal families “must be listened to”, says Helen Morgan

Helen Morgan has said that bereaved local families must be listened to after it was revealed that Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) will no longer be included in a national maternity review.

Helen expressed her concern after SaTH’s absence from the investigation was confirmed on Tuesday (21st October). Local mothers and campaigners, Rhiannon Davies and Kayleigh Griffiths, have also been told they are no longer part of the Government’s Rapid Review of maternity services.

The review is being led by Baroness Amos and was announced by Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, earlier this year. In September, SaTH was listed as one of the 14 trusts to be included in the review, however it was removed from the review this week ‘following discussions with West Mercia Police’ about its ongoing criminal investigation into baby deaths at the Trust.

Helen has now written to Baroness Amos highlighting the importance of SaTH as a case study in lessons that can be learned both from what has been done poorly and what was done well in the aftermath of the scandal being brought to light.

Both Ms Davies and Ms Griffiths were instrumental in highlighting failings in maternity care at SaTH after the deaths of their babies in 2009 and 2016. Their campaign led to hundreds of others coming forward to alert them of their own experiences, and an independent review led by Donna Ockenden.

Meanwhile Helen has made maternity improvements a key campaign in Parliament, where she previously chaired the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Maternity and has since become the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, said: “I’m concerned that a review into maternity care in the UK will not be properly considering the most in-depth investigations into failings at a maternity unit over decades.

“Bereaved families have been through incredible tragedy and trauma and need to be listened to.

“SaTH is also an important case study in what happens when failures come to light – both in terms of what has been done well and what could have been better managed at the Trust since the Ockenden Review was published.”

On the same day the letter was received by the pair, Helen challenged the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, on the issue of funding and the progress of implementing the findings of the Ockenden Review.

Speaking in Parliament, Helen said: “Can the Secretary of State explain to me and the many mothers I have met who have faced tragedy and unacceptable trauma why the Government are cutting national service development funding - ringfenced funding to improve maternity care - by more than 95% and why the immediate and essential actions from the Ockenden review into the failings at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust, which were to be implemented nationwide, are still not in place more than three years later.”

In response, Secretary of State for Health, Wes Streeting, said he “also wanted to see rapid improvement” in maternity services across the country.