By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
A regional NHS manager has been drafted in to manage Nottingham University Hospitals Trust’s communications after the trust’s director was suspended.
Tiffany Jones was suspended from her role as the trust’s director of communications and external relations last month after ‘blocking’ the Twitter profiles of a number of parents whose babies had died in the care of the trust.
Now, NHS papers reveal a temporary acting Director of Communications and Engagement has been brought into the trust in Ms Jones’ absence.
Jack Adlam is regional head of communications for NHS England in the midlands and will be based at the trust for the next six months.
NHS England said it is one of the ways its regional team is supporting the trust with improvements.
The organisation runs both the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital in Nottingham.
Ms Jones, who was also a board member at the organisation, previously “apologised wholeheartedly” for the upset caused.
A spokesperson for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We have seconded an Acting Director of Communications and Engagement to provide temporary backfill in the absence of our substantive Director.”
Ms Jones remains away from work and an HR process is ongoing.
Ms Jones apologised and deleted her Twitter account after some bereaved parents discovered they had been blocked by her on the social platform on August 18.
One of the parents who was blocked, Kimberley Errington, whose baby Teddy died in November 2020, said she was “shocked and utterly dismayed” at “yet another unbelievable blunder” involving the trust.
It came shortly before the start of an independent review into maternity services at both hospitals.
Inspectors currently rate maternity across NUH as ‘inadequate’ and dozens of babies have died or been injured during previous incidents at the trust.
This week review chair Donna Ockenden told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the process is already of a “very large scale” and hundreds have families have come forward following its official start on September 1.
