'There has been zero contact': Shropshire maternity scandal families 'let down' by hospital trust
Families who were personally affected by Shropshire's maternity scandal say they feel let down by a lack of communication from the county hospital trust two years after the harrowing findings into its failings were published.
Donna Ockenden, the maternity expert who led the inquiry into services at Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), met with a group of affected families on Wednesday in Shrewsbury.
The meeting came ahead of another meeting yesterday where Mrs Ockenden had been asked to visit the trust, at its own request.
But, she said that following discussions with the families she was concerned at their own reports of a lack of engagement with the trust since her report was published in 2022.
She said affected families had told her they had offered to help support the changes taking place at the trust – but had either heard nothing back, or been rebuffed.
Mrs Ockenden's report found 60 areas where improvements could be made at SaTH, and identified 201 cases of stillbirth and neonatal deaths that could have been avoided if better care had been provided.
The report contained a series of actions for improvements at the trust, and in the wider NHS.
Mrs Ockenden is currently carrying out a review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust.
Speaking after meeting with the Shropshire families Mrs Ockenden said she was "very disappointed" at the situation and would be raising the feedback with the trust.
She also revealed that the families had asked for her continuing involvement in their discussions with the trust in the future, as it continues to meet the recommendations outlined in the 2022 report.
Mrs Ockenden said that not engaging with families is a "lost opportunity" for the trust.
She said: "The only feedback from all of the families we have had contact with, which is about 20 families, is that there has been zero contact from the trust to the families since the publication of my report.
"Not only that, a number of families told me they have reached out offering their support in maternity improvement and transformation, and what the families described to me were two things – either hearing nothing back or an outright rejection of offers of help."
She added: "Around 1,500 families participated in the review. They all wanted two things – answers about what happened to them, and to make sure it would not happen to anyone else, and they feel very, very let down by the trust."
Mrs Ockenden said she was meeting yesterday with the trust for her first discussions with the organisation since she published her report.
She said: "My role is to feed back from affected and harmed families who have heard nothing from the trust in the two years since my report."
The maternity expert said she would continue to support the affected families.
She said: "The families I have met today, and there is a wider group of concerned families, have made it very clear they want my continuing involvement, ensuring effective engagement between them and the trust – they still want to help.
"They feel ignored and pushed back. Their next expectation is we have a further meeting before the end of the summer that the trust will be at, and I will be at in Shrewsbury."
She added: "I clearly have a huge responsibility to the Nottingham maternity review, which is ongoing, but having come to Shrewsbury and heard what I have, I cannot do nothing about that."
Responding to a request for comment, a spokeswoman for SaTH said "We had a productive meeting with Mrs Ockenden earlier this week and are now working on next steps."
