Shropshire maternity scandal report publication delayed with no fresh date set

The report, which is the second detailing failures in care provided by Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), was due to be published on March 22.

In a letter to families, maternity expert Donna Ockenden, who has been leading the inquiry, said that the delay was due to issues with parliamentary processes needed before the publication.

Mrs Ockenden said the processes are "beyond the control of the review team", and apologised to the families involved in the report – which is expected to detail findings from nearly 1,900 cases at the trust's hospitals.

The delay has been met with frustration and disappointment from one of the parents who sparked the inquiry, describing it as a "kick in the teeth" for families involved.

The first report was published in December 2020, and examined 250 cases at SaTH, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

It detailed shocking and harrowing findings about the experiences of mothers, fathers, and their babies, and led to a series of recommendations for the improvement of maternity care at the trust, and across England.

Mrs Ockenden, who has been working on the inquiry since 2017, has said they are "doing everything they can" to secure a new publication date.

In her letter to families she said: "We have been informed that a number of parliamentary processes are required before the final report can be published in Parliament.

"The Department of Health and Social Care are working to have these arrangements in place so we can publish the report at the earliest opportunity.

"These parliamentary processes are completely beyond the control of the review team.

"I am very sorry that this is not the news that you would have wanted to hear, and the review team and I are also very disappointed in the delay.

"We are doing everything we can to agree a new publication date, and we will advise you of the new date as a matter of urgency."

The inquiry was launched after Rhiannon Davies and her partner Richard Stanton, and Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths, wrote to the then-health secretary Jeremy Hunt in 2017.

Both families had suffered tragedy at the hands of the trust with the deaths of Ms Davies and Mr Stanton's daughter, Kate, and Mr and Mrs Griffiths' daughter, Pippa, judged to have been avoidable.

Ms Davies said the delay was a "kick in the teeth" for families who have been emotionally preparing for the impact of the report.

She said: "It is hugely emotional. You are hanging everything on a particular date, you are focused on it. A date ahead, people will know if it is an inquest or a funeral, you are focused on the date, you try not to think about it but you are stressed and now we don't even know when it is.

"People have booked time off work, they will have child-care issues, people – even if they are not planning on going – will need time to read the report and process it, it is a massive kick in the teeth."