My heart and prayers go out to the parents and families of all the babies and the mother that died unnecessary due to the shocking errors made. Joanna
Independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services in Morecambe Bay makes far-reaching recommendations to prevent future unnecessary deaths.
The report makes 44 recommendations for the Trust and wider NHS, aimed at ensuring the failings are properly recognised and acted upon.
Announcing the report’s findings, Investigation Chairman Dr Bill Kirkup said:
All health care – everywhere – includes the possibility of error. The great majority of NHS staff know this and work hard to avoid it. They should not be blamed or criticised when errors occur despite their efforts.
But in return, all of us who work for the NHS owe the public a duty to be open and honest when things go wrong, most of all to those affected, and to learn from what has happened. This is the contract that was broken in Morecambe Bay.
The investigation report details 20 instances of significant failures of care in the FGH maternity unit which may have contributed to the deaths of 3 mothers and 16 babies. Different clinical care in these cases would have been expected to prevent the death of 1 mother and 11 babies. This is almost 4 times the frequency of such occurrences at the Trust’s other main maternity unit, at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
The report says the maternity department at FGH was dysfunctional with serious problems in 5 main areas:
Click on the Press Release link to read more
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/morecambe-bay-investigation-report-published
Click on the link to read the Morecambe Bay Investigation Report
The Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation
Filed under: Hospital, NHS, NHS Blunders, Uncategorized, Whistleblowing, Dr Bill Kirkup, Morecambe Bay Investigation, Report