Kirkup Report into Maternity Services at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

A report published on 19 October 2022 following an independent investigation by Dr Bill Kirkup into maternity care at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust has identified catastrophic failings.

The investigation focused on maternity units at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother hospital (QEQM) in Margate and the William Harvey hospital in Ashford. This related to care provided between 2009 and 2020 following discussions with families who had received treatment at the hospitals in that period.

As part of the investigation 202 cases were reviewed and it was found that 97 cases could have resulted in a different outcome. Of the 202 cases 65 resulted in the death of the baby with 45 of these avoidable.

Dr Kirkup references other investigations which highlighted very similar safety concerns at other NHS Trusts including The Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust and the ongoing investigation concerning the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The report therefore identified four key areas for action and improvement. Specifically, the NHS could be better at:

  1. Identifying poorly performing units.
  2. Giving care with compassion and kindness.
  3. Team working with a common purpose.
  4. Responding to challenges with honesty.

The following specific issues were highlighted:

  1. Clinical care was suboptimal leading to significant harm;
  2. Poor teamwork hindered the ability to recognise developing problems leading to delayed interventions;
  3. A lack of professionalism was present, including midwives being assigned to high-risk mothers without receiving any interventional support from the rest of the team and blaming mothers for their own misfortune;
  4. There was a repeated lack of kindness and compassion given to families including in the aftermath of injury and death;
  5. There was a failure to listen to the families when raising concerns regarding their pregnancy experience. In some instances, disregarded concerns led to disastrous outcomes;
  6. There was a culture of providing false reassurance and minimising incident impact rather than acknowledging errors and learning from these;
  7. The Trust missed several opportunities to identify the true scale and nature of the problems and resolve these.

The report states that outcomes could have been different and therefore deaths could have been avoided. Sadly, these do not appear to be isolated incidents and Dr Kirkup emphasises that without appropriate action being taken across the entire NHS the same mistakes are likely to be repeated.

The full report can be found here: Reading the signals: maternity and neonatal services in East Kent, the report of the independent investigation (print ready) (publishing.service.gov.uk)

The experiences of the families interviewed for the report are shocking. Our Medical Negligence team have supported a number of families who have gone through similar experiences with substandard care leading to serious injury or death of the mother and baby. Many of these families were left worried that their concerns were either insufficiently investigated or disregarded entirely. Often families just want answers as to what went wrong and reassurance that mistakes will not be repeated.

Medical Negligence Solicitors 

Morrish Solicitors is a well-established law firm based in West Yorkshire. We have a highly qualified and experienced team of Medical Negligence Solicitors who have represented and continues to represents families affected by birth injuries at NHS Trusts.

We can offer specialist support and legal advice for families affected by issues in maternity care. Our medical negligence experts are here to support you and we could help you get the justice and compensation you deserve.

Our team of medical negligence specialists will be happy to discuss your options in detail with a free initial consultation.

If you believe you have a medical negligence claim please contact our specialist team of solicitors on 033 3344 9613 or email [email protected].

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