We have previously written about the review into NHS maternity care, as spearheaded by Baroness Amos, which highlighted the crisis in maternity services across the country and the heavy price paid for this by babies and their families.

The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, announced an urgent review into the 10 worst performing maternity units, which included maternity services at the University Hospital Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. It involved review of care between 2019 and 2023 and was aimed at identifying and tackling systemic problems in maternity care.

So broken are maternity services at the Trust that they paid out £103.8 million in clinical negligence claims for maternity errors between 2021 and 2025. This includes £34.3million in 2024/25, the highest amount in England that year.

The review is now complete and the results have been published. The tragic outcome of the review is that it found that at least 55 babies who did not survive at childbirth could have been saved with better care. There are recurring issues in the babies reviewed, including failure to heed reports of concerning symptoms such as reduced movements, failure to appropriately monitor mums and babies and issues with communication.

One of the cases considered was that of Katie Fowler, who lost her daughter Abigail in 2022. An independent investigation into Abigail’s death reported that she would have survived, had her Mother had gone into hospital sooner. The Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, were contacted on 4 occasions after Ms Fowler went into labour on her due date; in 2 of the calls, it was reported that she was suffering blood loss. She was however told to stay at home until the 4th call, by which time Ms Fowler was struggling to breathe. It transpired that Ms Fowler suffered massive internal bleeding caused by a uterine rupture. It was revealed that midwives at Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton only spoken to her mother twice over the phone and had 2 missed opportunities to bring her in for assessment.

Beth Cooper’s son, Felix, sadly passed after he was born at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath. Beth had gone into hospital on 3 consecutive days in the week leading up to his birth, reporting that she had experienced reduced movements of her baby. Beth was very concerned but she was dismissed by staff as being an anxious mum-to-be. By the time she went back for the fourth time, there was no heartbeat and Beth was sadly told that Felix had died.

In another case, Sophie Hartley reports that she called Princess Royal Hospital at least 30 times before she managed to speak to someone after she discharged a dark substance. When she went in to be checked, the baby was not monitored and she was sent home. The following morning, she went into labour. Staff struggled to find the baby’s heartbeat and after several delays the baby was delivered by emergency C-Section. The baby was not breathing and sadly died the following day.

Robyn Davis also lost her baby, Orlando, at Worthing Hospital in 2021 when maternity staff failed to realise that Robyn had developed a condition called hyponatraemia during labour. An inquest found that his death was contributed to by neglect.

The Chief Executive from University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Andy Heeps, has said that “we did not always get things right”. He noted that “following a detailed investigation into a number of neonatal deaths to understand what was happening, we acted immediately to give families answers, to learn, and to make changes”. He importantly acknowledges however that “no improvement can erase the grief families have lived through. We recognise there is always more to do. We welcome the scrutiny brought by Baroness Amos through the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation, and we hope that the separate review of individual cases will help provide answers and drive further improvements.”

Whilst acknowledgment of the failings and assurances of change is a step in the right direction, it does not alter the lifechanging losses that have been suffered by families who entered the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust with the safe delivery of their children.

Likewise, financial compensation does not change this loss but it can help, such as providing funds to pay for much needed psychological treatment to process the loss and help with the grieving process. We would urge bereaved families to consider bringing a claim for compensation; we have supported many bereaved families through this process and have secured for them much needed answers and justice to help them with looking to the future and honouring their lost children.

If you have experienced baby loss at the hands of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust or indeed any hospital trust, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss further how we can help on 01482 323697.