An NHS landmark review of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital, led by maternity expert Donna Ockenden, will publish its final findings on Wednesday with significant implications for obstetric care across the UK. The study, which looked at more than 1,800 cases over two decades, is expected to conclude that hundreds of babies have died or become severely disabled due to errors in the NHS Trust and is calling for change. However, NHS and midwifery officials said they feared that the NHS’s growing shortage of maternity staff meant that the trusts might not be able to meet the new standards set out in the report. “I’m deeply concerned when executives say they cannot respond to the Ockenden Review’s recommendations, which are vital to ensuring that women and babies receive the safest possible maternity care,” said Gill Walton, CEO of Royal College of Midwives (RCM). . The number of midwives dropped to 26,901, according to NHS England data released last month, from 27,272 a year ago. RCM says the drop in numbers adds to the existing staff shortage of more than 2,000. Experts say the shortage was caused by the NHS struggling to attract new midwives, while losing existing staff, who felt overwhelmed and tired of spreading too sparsely in maternity wards. Last week, the NHS announced 12 127 million in maternity services funding to improve maternal and baby care, including 50 50m allocated to trusts over the next two years to increase maternity services and newborns. But Walton expressed concern that in the absence of midwives, the recruitment and retention crisis would not be resolved overnight. “We have midwives from top to bottom and from bottom to top who tell us how bad the situation is,” he said. “Obviously we welcome additional funding, but there are a lot of questions about how it will be used to recruit and, just as importantly, retain the staff we need. “The government needs to get its head out of the sand and deal with it urgently.” NHS Providers Deputy Managing Director Saffron Cordery said hospital leaders had expressed concern that staff shortages would hamper efforts to improve maternity services. “In our recent survey, several trusted leaders told us that shortages in obstetric services are a major concern,” Cordery said. “It is obviously worrying that some people have been forced to close down because of job gaps and we know there are fears among confidence leaders that they will not be able to meet the standards set in the forthcoming Ockenden report because of these gaps.” Lawyers representing families affected by the Shrewsbury maternity scandal said it was vital that the report’s recommendations be implemented as soon as possible. Tim Annett, a medical malpractice attorney at Irwin Mitchell, said: “Unfortunately, we continue to hear incredibly disturbing first-hand reports from families concerned about maternity care, not just in Shrewsbury and Telford, but in other faiths as well. “Very often in the past we have seen reviews and research on hospital care make recommendations that took years to implement. “This report should not be pushed to one side after it is published – it is important to analyze the details and, where possible, learn lessons to improve maternal safety, which should remain the focus of the NHS.”
