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.
But it was deeply troubling to hear her and others speak of a Gloucestershire NHS Trust culture where concerns were not properly listened to. That was echoed by Dr Bill Kirkup CBE, who spoke of a practice of ‘deny and deflect’.
This is consistent with the findings of the 2022 CQC Gloucestershire NHS Staff Survey which noted that ‘The trust did not have an open culture where staff could raise concerns without fear’.
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.
In the first instance we as a community need answers to three things.
First, what independent scrutiny will be provided to assure us that the steps taken since 2020 to improve maternity care such as new consultant midwives, extra staff, daily safety briefings and so on, are working?
Second, are Gloucestershire’s maternity safety statistics below the national average as Panorama claims, or at the national average as Gloucestershire NHS Trust claims? Who is right?
Third, when serious failings happen, will they now be brought to the attention of local representatives in the spirit of openness and transparency?
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.
[Column published in the Glos Echo and Cheltenham Post]