More than 500 families say they have suffered avoidable harm when receiving maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals Trust and are seeking for the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to include the Trust in the recently announced a national investigation into maternity care.

As part of the investigation, which is aimed at tackling ‘systemic problems dating back over 15 years’, a task force, headed by Mr Streeting and involving experts and bereaved families, will investigate NHS care in maternity and neonatal units. It will be a two part investigation with the first part involving investigation of up to 10 of the most concerning NHS Trusts, including Gloucester, Leeds, Sussex, and Mid and South Essex. The full list of Trusts is still to be announced and campaigners from the ‘Families Failed by OUH’, made up of 500 families who feel they have been let down by the Trust, who are calling for the Oxford Trust to be added to the list.

As well as investigating individual NHS Trusts, there will be a system-wide look at maternity and neonatal care, aiming to create a national set of action to improve care across the NHS as a whole.

The Oxford University Hospitals Trust is one of the largest NHS Trusts in the UK and includes the John Radcliffe Hospital, Churchill Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre and Horton General Hospital. According to the latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission in 2023, maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals requires improvement, raising concerns surrounding patient dignity and infection management. It set out specific action that the Trust must take to improve, namely:

• The trust must ensure there are sufficient numbers of suitably qualified, competent skilled and experienced staff to meet the needs of the service, both midwifery and medical.
• The trust must ensure there is a robust process in place to monitor compliance with mandatory training across all maternity staff groups.
• The trust must ensure all relevant maternity staff complete safeguarding children training level 3.
• The trust must ensure staff are competent for their roles and managers appraise staff’s work performance.

Sadly, in spite of the required action and according to the Families Failed by OUH, families are still being badly let down by the Trust. One such reported case is that of Morgan Joines, whose son was born by emergency caesarean section and was rushed away to a high dependency unit. Morgan overhead a Midwife blaming her for “being too lazy to have a natural birth”, even though it was required for medical reasons, and how she had made her son unwell by “being lazy”.

Another sad case involves Laura Ayoade, who gave birth in 2023. Her account is that she was required to give birth using forceps and a vacuum, to which she did not consent and had explained to those caring for her that she could not cope with psychologically. This

had devastating consequences for Laura, leaving her feeling that she wanted to end her life. In spite of reporting this to a midwife, she was then left alone for 2 hours and had to call a crisis phone line for help.

The Chief Nursing Officer at Oxford University Hospitals has told a source that “we regret any instance where we fail to provide the service that women and their families should expect. When this happens, we make every effort to review individual cases to understand what went wrong and how we can improve. We are never complacent and welcome all feedback, whether positive or negative, as we learn from both”.

It remains to be seen as to whether the Oxford University Hospitals will be investigated as part of the Health Secretary’s investigation. Even if it is, this will not in itself lead to justice and compensation for those who have suffered avoidable harm under the Trust; this is where a claim for clinical negligence can assist.

If you or a loved one have suffered harm as a result of maternity care, please get in touch with our friendly and experienced Clinical Negligence Department on 01482 323697 to discuss how we can help.