Over 150 baby deaths linked to UK maternity scandal - Probe

A major independent investigation into maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has uncovered systemic failings, resulting in potentially avoidable harm or death for over 500 mothers and babies. The report, published Wednesday, detailed at least 156 baby deaths and the deaths of six mothers across two hospital units over a 13-year period from 2012 to 2025.

The inquiry, the largest maternity investigation in the history of Britain's state-run National Health Service (NHS), involved over 2,500 families. It follows a series of similar scandals exposed in recent years across England, highlighting a crisis in maternal and infant care.

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I just can’t compute … how they did this to us and how they did this to all these families. Our concerns were dismissed and not acted upon. We weren’t told the truth about what happened, even after death.

Report author Donna Ockenden, a senior midwife, described a "bullying and toxic culture" within the trust's maternity hospitals, which she said was "infected" by a "small minority of powerful leaders." The report specifically highlighted the "avoidable death" of baby Harriet Hawkins, whose parents were both clinicians at the trust. Sarah Hawkins stated that their concerns were dismissed and they were not told the truth, even after their daughter's death.

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I think now I can respond to that and say if you’d listened to every mother’s concerns, there would be hundreds of mothers, babies, still alive.

Wynter Andrews' parents also shared their harrowing experience, recounting how they were wrongly advised to terminate a healthy pregnancy in 2019. Her father, Gary Andrews, criticized clinicians' dismissive attitudes, stating, "if you’d listened to every mother’s concerns, there would be hundreds of mothers, babies, still alive."

Health Minister James Murray called the findings "chilling" and acknowledged that regulators had prioritized "protecting clinicians" over accountability. He expressed being "appalled by the neglect, incompetence, racism, discrimination, contempt and harassment that so many suffered" and pledged that the government would release an action plan by the end of the year to address the issues.

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I had been appalled by the neglect, incompetence, racism, discrimination, contempt and harassment that so many suffered