The horrors found by the Ockenden report are not alas confined to one maternity unit
What will it take for people to realise that childbirth is not a game, unless it’s a game of chance? It can all go wonderfully to plan, or it can be random and potentially lethal. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is the safety of the mother and child.
An independent investigation into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS (SaTH) trust, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, was courageously fought for by the families of two babies who died, Kate Stanton-Davies and Pippa Griffiths. It has since expanded, finding 1,862 serious incidents mostly between 2000 and 2019, including the deaths of hundreds of babies, abnormally high maternal deaths and a catalogue of incompetence, neglect and cruelty. Failure to handle high-risk cases correctly. Reluctance to perform caesarean sections in the overzealous pursuit of “natural” (vaginal) births. Inadequate consultant supervision. Adversarial attitudes between midwives and doctors. Mocking of struggling mothers as “lazy”, and blaming of mothers for their babies’ deaths.
