Shropshire parents launch petition as they renew calls for national maternity inquiry

The petition follows a letter sent to the Health Secretary Steve Barclay last month, where Rhiannon Davies, her husband Richard Stanton, and Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths, from Myddle, outlined ongoing concerns over the national standard of maternity care in the wake of developments at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, where around 1,700 cases are being reviewed.

Ms Davies and Mr Stanton's daughter Kate died avoidably in the care of Shrewsbury & Telford NHS Trust (SaTH), while Mr and Mrs Griffiths' daughter Pippa also died due to failings in the organisation's care.

Their campaigning led to the Ockenden review of maternity services at SaTH, which revealed harrowing details about the extent of persistent failures at the trust.

The petition also comes after Shropshire's coroner, John Ellery, only last week concluded that 'gross failure' at SaTH led to the preventable death of Poppy Mary Isabella Russell.

Poppy died at the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford on April 11, 2021, just 11 hours and 50 minutes after being delivered by emergency caesarian section.

Her death came after the first Ockenden report had been published in December 2020.

Speaking in the wake of the inquest conclusion Poppy's parents, Kathryn and Neil Russell, from Rodington, said it was time for the Health Secretary to take action.

They said: "We also call upon Mr Steve Barclay, Secretary of State and Social Care, to make safer maternity care a priority. There must be national scrutiny and changes. How many more children must die? How many more families have to suffer like ours before critical changes are made?"

Launching the latest petition Ms Davies said they had not yet received a response from Mr Barclay to their September letter.

She said: "Without a top down review that leaves no stone unturned, the oft repeated national failings will continue to cause avoidable harm and death and devastate families."

She added: "Listen to those of us who have experienced this life shattering reality as we push for the deepest, most meaningful change possible. This can only be uncovered and delivered with a national public inquiry."

The petition calls for "robust action", and says Donna Ockenden, who led the SaTH inquiry, and is currently investigating care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, should be in charge of a national review.

It states: "Rather than disconnected and disjointed clinical and criminal investigations into hospital trusts across the country, a public inquiry into maternity services is the only way we can get to the root of the issues and create required change.

"We recommend Donna Ockenden leads this."

The petition, which has so far been signed by 305 people, can be found at change.org/p/national-maternity-inquiry

Responding to the petition a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Every parent deserves to feel confident in the care they and their baby receive and we welcome the Care Quality Commission’s commitment to monitoring those trusts that are not providing an adequate standard, to ensure improvements are made.

“Nationally, we have invested £165 million a year since 2021 to grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal services and we are promoting careers in midwifery by increasing training places by up to 3,650 over the past four years.

“The Care Quality Commission is also currently inspecting all NHS acute hospital maternity services that have not been inspected and rated since April 2021.”

The department did not comment on why Mr Barclay had not responded to the initial letter.