Shropshire maternity scandal: Mother's concern over staffing levels amid looming nurse strikes

Health bosses are due to update Shropshire Council's Health and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday on progress made since maternity expert Donna Ockenden's final review into the issues at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH). The trust has yet to complete around half of the actions ordered by the report, published in March this year.

It comes as The Royal College of Nursing is due to reveal the results of its strike ballot. It is expected that nurses will have voted in favour of action in a dispute over pay.

Mother Sonia Leigh, from Muxton, Telford, believes one of the main issues plaguing SaTH is staffing, and said there is no "quick fix".

"The staffing is a big issue," she said. "You've got to have good management for the staff to want to stay.

"If you haven't got enough staff, you have exhausted staff, and that is when mistakes happen."

She added: "I don't blame them (nurses) for striking, but it does make you worry.

"I still think they (SaTH) have a long way to go. I don't feel confident yet."

Sonia's daughter, Kathryn Susan Leigh, died in 2000, just 21 minutes old. She was born in a poorly condition after her mother had been left in labour all night before needing an emergency Caesarean. Medics then did not use the resuscitation equipment correctly.

Since Kathryn's death, recommendations were made to doctors to be fully trained on the resuscitation equipment, a change which saved her granddaughter's Nancy's life.

"There have been a lot of sorrys, but is there enough action being taken?" asked Sonia, who was one of the original 23 contacted by bereaved mothers Kayleigh Griffiths and Rhiannon Davies who demanded the then Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt agree to an investigation into care given by SaTH in 2017. "It's got to get safer, not just for the parents but for the staff," she added.

When Ms Ockenden was appointed, the inquiry "exploded", with 1,862 cases raised. It was revealed that more than 200 deaths of babies and mothers were avoidable.

On SaTH's progress so far, Ms Ockenden said: "My review team and I recognise that maternity services at the trust had considerable work to do across the more than 90 local actions for learning, specific to the Trust and the 20+ immediate and essential actions that apply to all maternity services across England including Shropshire.

"The combination of the local actions for learning and the England-wide immediate and essential actions give the trust a ‘blueprint’ and road map for the way forward with safe provision of it’s maternity services.

"Local families and the Trusts own staff working on the ground will need to see significant progress that has the wholehearted and ongoing support of the Trust Board. As a review team we wish the Trust well with its efforts going forward and would like to thank all of the families and staff who contributed to our independent review and two reports."