Shropshire maternity scandal: Parents say only concern is patient safety after hospital trust apology

Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton were speaking after the board of Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust yesterday confirmed a review of its governance was underway, following critical findings of an independent report by Fiona Scolding KC.

The report had been sparked by a 2020 complaint from the couple, whose daughter Kate died avoidably in the trust's care in 2009.

The conclusions of the report, which were accepted by the board, included criticism of the way it had dealt with Ms Davies and Mr Stanton in the wake of their daughter's death, concluding: “The trust has not dealt with Mr Stanton and Ms Davies in an open and honest way. That is undoubtedly true.”

It also found that the board did not do enough to look at the reasons an independent report into maternity care at the trust was not published immediately after it was produced.

The report, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) had been requested by the trust in the wake of major concerns over its maternity services – those concerns were examined by the Ockenden Report which published a series of harrowing conclusions earlier this year.

The RCOG report identified what it concluded were patient safety issues and should have been published in 2017.

But it was held until the following year while the trust sought an 'addendum' to the report, having disagreed with its conclusions – Ms Scolding described the trust as trying to 'spin' the findings.

One of the complaints investigated was the behaviour of the chair of the board at a meeting in 2018, where Mr Stanton sought to raise questions over the non-publication of the RCOG report.

His microphone was switched off and he was spoken over, with Ms Scolding concluding: "With the benefit of hindsight the board meeting was not well handled."

She added: "Mr. Stanton should not have been spoken over and his microphone should not have been switched off."

Speaking after the publication of Ms Scolding's report, Ms Davies said: "The very point of the complaint we raised back in 2020 was the fact that the publication of critical concerns that RCOG had were suppressed.

"They had patient safety concerns and Richard went to the board meeting to try and ask why these were not being published.

"It comes back to those affected, those who live through the loss and the pain every day, trying to create change every day so that it does not affect other people, and fighting against a system that is so weighted against them."

She added: "Nothing matters more than patient safety, not money, not reputation, there is nothing more important than making sure patients are safe.

"Richard went to the meeting to raise concerns and they would not let him speak, and of all the things that have happened in the 13-and-a-half years since Kate died, certain things are acutely stressful and caused more harm than others, and the way he was treated he felt so vulnerable and humiliated."

Mr Stanton said the report had validated his concerns about the board's examination of the situation with the RCOG report.

He said: "I don't think there are many people on the board who had the ability or the capacity to understand what scrutiny is and if they did have then on the odd time they would have spoken up."

Following Thursday's meeting, Dr Catriona McMahon, chair of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said: “I would like to apologise again to Ms. Davies and Mr. Stanton for their loss and the way in which the trust dealt with their concerns. We also wish to extend our apologies to other families who have been more widely impacted by the findings of this report.

“Our aim in commissioning this independent report was to investigate, transparently, the complaints made against the former chair and we have committed to follow-through with actions to address the issues it highlights.

“Local mothers and families tell us services are improving but we know there is still much more to do, and we will continue to work with our local and national partners to deliver safer and more effective care.”