A police investigation into maternity services at two hospitals has started interviewing current and former members of staff.<\/p>\n
West Mercia Police began the inquiry in June 2020, while a review by senior midwife Donna Ockenden was ongoing – Ockenden would eventually find there had been catastrophic failings at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.<\/p>\n
The police investigation was set up to explore whether there was evidence to support a criminal case against the trust or any individuals involved.<\/p>\n
The hospital trust said it recognised it was important people get \u00ab\u00a0the answers they have waited for\u00a0\u00bb and that it was fully cooperating with police.<\/p>\n
The Ockenden inquiry examined maternity practices at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust over a period of 20 years.<\/p>\n
Initially set up to examine 23 cases, it was widened to include almost 1,600 cases where there were concerns over maternity care.<\/p>\n
It found the failures may have led to the deaths of more than 200 babies, nine mothers and left other infants with life-changing injuries.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of the cases have been examined by police officers involved in Operation Lincoln.<\/p>\n
The senior officer in the police investigation, Supt Carl Moore, said the start of staff interviews represented a new phase.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are committed to ensuring that the families involved are fully informed at each stage of our enquiries,\u00a0\u00bb he said.<\/p>\n
Jo Williams, the chief executive of the trust which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital, said: \u00ab\u00a0We are truly sorry for the harm caused to those families who rightfully expected a safe experience under our care, and who were let down by us.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The trust also said its maternity services would remain fully open during the police investigation.<\/p>\n
It noted the most recent inspection of the hospitals by the CQC, in 2023, rated the maternity services as \u00ab\u00a0good\u00a0\u00bb overall.<\/p>\n
It said there had been improvements in midwifery staffing levels, training, risk assessments and the way it listens to women and families.<\/p>\n
But it said there would be more change to come and added: \u00ab\u00a0We will continue to work with our colleagues, with families and with our local communities to provide the best standards of care.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A police investigation into maternity services at two hospitals has started interviewing current and former members of staff. West Mercia Police began the inquiry in June 2020, while a review by senior midwife Donna Ockenden was ongoing – Ockenden would eventually find there had been catastrophic failings at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}