An independent study led by Donna Ockenden found that 201 babies and nine mothers could have or would have survived if the NHS at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital had provided better care. No staff members or health officials were identified in the 234-page sentencing report released Wednesday, despite presiding over catastrophic failures. But on Thursday, the health minister said he was “shocked” by the findings of the investigation. He promised to identify those whose failures left hundreds of babies dead or seriously injured. Speaking at Barking Community Hospital, where he was visiting a diagnostic center, Javid said it was right that the government had accepted the report’s recommendations “to ensure that this never happens again”. “But it is also right – and I’m absolutely determined to do that – to make sure we prosecute those responsible,” he said. “Of course there have been systemic failures, we have to change systems, but there have also been individual failures, and I want to make sure we do not take any steps to find the people who are responsible for this and ensure that they are accountable.” Patient safety charity Action against Medical Accidents has backed Javid’s call for tough action against trusted bosses, saying he “wants those responsible for scandals like this to be held accountable and unable to take on similar roles”. elsewhere “. The team, which was a key player in the formal investigation into the Mid Staffordshire care scandal, also urged ministers to introduce the NHS senior management regulation, to reflect systems already in place for many health professionals so that they could be banned if found guilty of violating rules. Peter Walsh, the group’s chief executive, said: “There must also be accountability for senior executives who are responsible for scandalous scandals like this. “There should be arrangements for senior executives similar to arrangements for doctors and nurses, so that they can be removed from the register and prevented from taking on similar roles.” Walsh also expressed concern that some of the recommendations from the 2015 Morecambe Bay maternity scandal, as well as Ockenden’s initial findings published last year, had not yet been implemented. For example, there has been “little or no progress” in setting up “senior independent advocates” to support women concerned about maternity services. Police are investigating 600 cases linked to the Shrewsbury scandal. Wednesday’s report of infant deaths in the trust has condemned health workers and leaders blaming grieving mothers and repeatedly ignoring their own devastating blunders for decades. Earlier on Thursday, a cabinet minister revealed that she had been told she would not have a caesarean section despite having a “very difficult” delivery with her first child. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said it made her “feel sick” to know that “in too many difficult births can lead to the most horrific tragedy”. The international trade minister told Times Radio that “she was basically told I would not have a caesarean section”. He said the Shrewsbury study, which found that many mothers had to have natural births when they could have had a caesarean section, “reminded me that there has long been a culture that says natural childbirth: good. caesarean section: bad “.
