Heartbroken families who were harmed by maternity care failings at an NHS trust have said they ‘expect action’.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUHT) is currently under independent review following dozens of deaths and injuries of babies, with 1,700 cases and accounts from 650 staff being investigated.

Although the NUHT has already promised to publicly apologise to those affected in due course, the families say this doesn’t go far enough and have called for a criminal investigation to see if the law was broken.

The families in the Nottingham Families Maternity Group said: ‘To date, not a single person – clinical staff, managerial staff, board member, commissioner, governance lead – has been held to account for the known, avoidable and predictable failures.

‘How is this possible? Local coroners have concluded “neglect” in multiple inquests.

‘This, along with the high number of medical negligence cases, should surely trigger disciplinary processes.’

Today marks the first anniversary of the review – expected to be the biggest in NHS maternity history – led by healthcare leader Donna Ockenden, with her latest report expected to be published this month.

Sarah and Jack Hawkins, who have previously spoken out in the media, were one of the first families to raise concerns over care failings after their daughter Harriet died during labour in 2016.

They were both working for the trust at the time and felt there was ‘cover-up after cover-up’ and their worries were ‘batted away’.

Sarah, now 40, added: ‘We’d worked for the trust, we believed in the trust, and it was so disturbing that these people that we called our friends and colleagues were just ignoring us and trying to cover it up.

‘I don’t know how they slept at night.’

The couple have since welcomed a daughter, Lottie, who is now three.

Another mum, Felicity Benyon, was left with a permanent urostomy bag after staff at Queen’s Medical Centre ‘didn’t realise’ they had removed her bladder during an emergency hysterectomy in 2015.

As well as a public apology, the head of the NUHT has pledged to make improvements ‘whatever the cost, whatever it takes’.

Anthony May OBE, who also started his role a year ago today, said: ‘Our trust, our hospitals, are a landmark in these communities and we absolutely have to find a way and the capacity to improve if we’re going to maintain the trust and confidence of local people.

‘We must continue to improve because people depend upon us and what we do here, and for them the services have got to be good, and the experience has to be good.’

The trust has also been reinspected by the Care Quality Commission after it was last graded as ‘requiring improvement’.

Mr May said the review will be ‘crucially important to the future of the trust’ and has said the NUHT has already made changes to improve accessibility, cultural sensitivity and translation services.

‘Equally, I would say to anybody who’s worried about our services, maternity or other services, then tell us,’ he added.

‘If it’s in maternity, tell your midwife, if it’s anywhere else in the trust, find a way of telling your clinician so that we can help and fix the problem.’

The families added the initial changes – particularly surrounding accountability – were a ‘huge weight’ off their shoulders and a ‘much-needed relief’.

‘It has been our feeling that previous NUH boards have been protecting inadequate and unsafe care, allowing it to continue and even rewarding it at times,’ their statement added.

‘This explains why we continue to be contacted by families who have been recently harmed.

‘This change in values by the board leaders is welcomed. To date, you can cause horrific harm at NUH with no consequence, but now we expect accountability.

‘We expect action; just as there would be if a baby or mother had died or suffered horrific injury in any other circumstance.’

Some families are also set to meet with Nottinghamshire Police’s chief constable, Kate Meynell, to discuss the possibility of a criminal investigation.

‘We are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, uncles, and aunts who will continue our fight until there is accountability and change,’ they added.

Metro.co.uk has contacted the police force for further comment.

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