By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Around 1,000 families and hospital staff members have now contacted an ongoing review into maternity services in Nottingham.
The review is being led by experienced midwife and healthcare expert Donna Ockenden.
She is examining maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital.
Maternity services at both hospitals have been rated ‘inadequate’ by health watchdogs and dozens of babies have died or been injured.
Ms Ockenden is in Nottingham this week meeting families and local community and religious groups as the review marks three months since it officially started.
To date, 750 families and 250 members of NUH staff have contacted the review team.
The review process is now expected to last a further minimum of 18 months from January 2023 once the team has access to NUH medical records.
Originally it was intended to last 18 months from September 2022.
Last week, NUH and Ms Ockenden also wrote to more than 1,000 families who have cases potentially relevant to the review.
The letter explained that the review team need families’ consent to access medical records.
Ms Ockenden told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “My sense from the early days when I was first contacted by Sarah and Jack Hawkins and Gary and Sarah Andrews was that what happened to them and their babies, Harriet and Wynter, was incredibly serious.
“What I’ve learnt from undertaking a number of reviews now, is one gets a sense of how serious events may well have been.
“From the very earliest days, it’s been my view that this would be a large scale maternity review and to date, I think those early feelings were correct.”
The letter which went out to families last week included a cover letter from Chief Executive of NUH, Anthony May, who apologised to families who had been affected.
Ms Ockenden added: “My review team don’t have an automatic right to look at anyone’s medical records, so we do need the all-important short email to say you consent to join the review.
“Without that permission, we simply won’t be able to request records from the trust and their case won’t be a part of the review.
“Consent and permission from families is absolutely vital in order to take those important next steps.”
She said the number of families who have been contacted “absolutely” shows the potential large scale of the review.
She said: “The Shrewsbury review [previously conducted by Ms Ockenden] was the largest ever inquiry into a single service in the history of the NHS.
“Clearly the size and scale of this Nottingham review will depend on the number of families who consent to join.
“It is looking like this will be an extremely large scale review as well.”
She added that families who were a part of an initial Clinical Commissioning Group review, which was scrapped after campaigning by families earlier this year, can also consent to be a part of the Ockenden review.
The review team will also have access to translation services soon so people who do not speak English as a first language can communicate with the team.
Nottingham University Hospitals said last week: “We are committed to making the necessary and sustainable improvements to our maternity services and this is why we will continue to do all we can to support the work of the independent review.
“We are also reiterating our support for current and former colleagues who work directly in or closely with our maternity services to speak with the review team if they want to.
“We know that this is an unsettling time for women and families using our maternity services right now. If you have any concerns about your care or have further questions, we encourage you to speak to your midwife or consultant.”
The review team can be contacted at [email protected].
