A mother whose daughter was stillborn after medical errors has called for individual sanctions for those responsible, as the largest maternity review in NHS history is published on Wednesday. The report details widespread failings at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, involving around 2,500 families, including cases of babies and mothers harmed since April 2012.
Parents' Ordeal
Sarah and Jack Hawkins lost their daughter Harriet in 2016 after multiple errors, including a lack of monitoring during six days of labour. Mr Hawkins, 57, said: 'Our biggest thing is, how has this happened in plain sight of the state, the mandarins in the Department of Health and Social Care, the board of NHS England?' He added: 'How on earth have we allowed it that there are 1,000 avoidable baby deaths in this country every year?'
An initial review by NUH found no errors, concluding Harriet died from an infection. The parents launched their own investigation, and an external inquiry identified 13 failings in care. Their legal case was settled out of court for £2.8 million in 2021.
Calls for Accountability
Mr Hawkins called for a statutory public inquiry, saying: 'We have a dead child. And instead of saying: “Jesus, we knew this is terrible,” they said: “No, you did something wrong. She was wrong. We did everything right,” and just tried to bury us.' Both parents worked for NUH at the time; Mr Hawkins was a hospital consultant, and Mrs Hawkins, 43, a senior physiotherapist. She said: 'Not only was our daughter killed, but we couldn’t go back to our careers, our jobs, everything.'
Mrs Hawkins added: 'I think there needs to be individual sanctions because at the minute — and in Nottingham — you can harm or kill babies and nothing happens. There is no accountability.'
Report Findings and Criminal Investigation
Senior midwife Donna Ockenden’s report is expected to identify shocking care failures at every level. NUH has already paid millions in compensation and fines. Nottinghamshire Police launched a corporate manslaughter case last year; on Monday, two men aged 55 and 59 were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office in connection with mortuary practices. More than 800 staff were involved in the review. A senior source told The Guardian the findings would be 'very bad' and 'horrendous'.
