News

Police investigating Nottingham hospitals for corporate manslaughter

Nottingham’s hospitals are facing a police investigation for corporate manslaughter over the deaths of babies in maternity care.

The Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital are already subject to the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history over standards dating back to 2012.

Notts Police announced in April 2024 they were also considering a criminal probe and began accepting and gathering evidence.

In an update on Monday (June 2) the force said officers are investigating Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS trust for corporate manslaughter.

The separate independent review, being run by midwife and healthcare expert Donna Ockenden, is examining around 2,500 cases of neonatal deaths, stillbirths and injuries to mothers and babies.

Called Operation Perth, the police investigation is based around whether the trust was “grossly negligent” in how it acted, leading to the deaths.

Detective Superintendent Matthew Croome, the Senior Investigating Officer for Operation Perth, said: “In such an investigation we are looking to see if the overall responsibility lies with the organisation rather than specific individuals and my investigation will look to ascertain if there is evidence that the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has committed this offence.

A new online portal has also been created to update families and accept further information.

So far more than 200 family cases have been received by Operation Perth from the Ockenden review, and around 2,500 are expected to be referred to the force in total.

In a joint statement, Nick Carver, Chair of the hospitals trust and Anthony May, Chief Executive, said: “It is absolutely right that we take organisational accountability where we have failed women, families and babies.