Following the BBC Panorama investigation into maternity services in Gloucestershire, Alex has called for rapid progress - including a change in culture - to improve maternity services in Gloucestershire.
Writing in the Gloucestershire Echo and Cheltenham Post, Alex said:
"The accounts given to Monday night’s BBC Panorama by two mothers whose babies died shortly after birth in Cheltenham in 2019 and 2020 are utterly harrowing and upsetting. None of us can bear the full impact of these tragedies, but I hope the families will know we in Cheltenham are thinking of them very much.
I want to pay tribute to the former midwife who had the courage to speak out about the poor care provided by two midwives in these cases, who in her view should have reacted sooner to warning signs.
It was deeply troubling to hear her and others speak of a Gloucestershire NHS Trust culture where concerns were not properly listened to.
That is completely unacceptable, and the incoming Chief Executive will want to waste no time in turning this around. I have had several conversations with him over recent days, and I am grateful for his candour and evident commitment to change.
I have also raised these matters with the Secretary of State for Health, Victoria Atkins. Plainly there are issues of recruitment that need addressing too and I welcome that the Government is investing £186 million to grow the workforce in Cheltenham and beyond.
Many of us have trusted Gloucestershire Hospitals with the birth of our children. My son was born at GRH in 2020. We want the management to turn this around, and as Gloucestershire’s MPs we will be constructive wherever possible. But rapid progress is necessary - and expected.”
To read Alex's column in full, please click HERE.