The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust is under investigation for maternity care failures. A culture in the Trust that favored natural childbirth as well as the repeated failure to properly monitor babies or learn from mistakes can be blamed on what is already recognized as the worst maternity scandal in NHS history. Picture: Sophiya Hotchkiss with her parents in the intensive care unit before she dies “I have asked for a caesarean section many times. they said no From the window of her Telford home Hayley Matthews can see the playground where she imagined she would play with her son. Jack Byrne was born in 2015. His mother knew he was going to grow up and had repeatedly asked for a caesarean section. “I know if I had a caesarean section it would be in this park today,” he says. “I have asked for a caesarean section many times. “They told me no.” During the delivery, Jack’s shoulder stuck. By the time he was born, he had not had a heartbeat for 15 minutes. The doctors managed to resuscitate him but he was rushed to the intensive care unit. “It did not respond to treatment,” says Hayley. “They said I should let him go because they can do nothing.” Eleven hours later Jack died. As time went on, Hayley realized that his death was part of a pattern in the Trust. “You think it only happened to your child and then you hear about another 10, another 20 and now it has gone over 1,000. “There are so many people who have suffered.” Picture: Sophiya Hotchkiss when she was in the intensive care unit before she died Hundreds of families contacted the research team Jack’s death was one of 23 cases of concern when independent midwife Donna Ockenden was asked to investigate the Trust in 2017. Since then, her research team has contacted hundreds more families. At least 1,400 cases have been addressed in its report, including infant and maternal deaths and preventable injuries that left babies permanently disabled. Most of the incidents in the report occurred between 2000 and 2019. The Trust said it was fully responsible for the failures in the standards of care and had apologized. However, a previous report highlighted the lack of compassion among staff, which blamed mothers when their babies died. Read more: “Climate of fear” prevented staff from talking at the hospital where hundreds of babies died “It was disgusting how they treated us” “I was told it was my fault and I had to smoke, which was not true,” said Steph Hotchkiss, whose daughter Sophiya died in the Trust in 2014. “It was disgusting how they treated us, basically blamed for our daughter’s death.” In fact, Steph had gone to the hospital in severe pain and told midwives that she had a placental abruption in a previous pregnancy. He had to wait 45 minutes. Even then, a midwife initially told her she had no other detachment, before finally realizing it was. “The cause of her death was a lack of oxygen. This would not have happened if they had come to me as soon as I arrived. “No one should leave this hospital without their baby, knowing that it could be avoided. The pain is indescribable.” Her case and many others are being investigated by the police. The West Mercia force announced that it was conducting a criminal investigation into the Trust deaths in 2020. Families say the report should be a landmark Families of mourners who have struggled hard to get answers say this report should be a milestone in maternity care across the country. Kate Stanton Davies’s parents have been campaigning tirelessly to expose the Trust scandal since her death in 2009. His mother, Rhiannon Davies, said: “This report should really shed light on what happened, why it happened and how it was triggered. “This fight was for Kate and every other family, so no one ever has to go through what we have to go through.”
