NHS staff called 'heartless' over maternity comments

Staff working for a scandal-hit NHS trust allegedly made "heartless" criticisms about families involved in the largest-ever maternity review and claimed relatives are taking part so they can seek compensation.

Families also said they have been accused of grooming other affected families to join senior midwife Donna Ockenden's independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).

The review began three years ago after allegations of harm to babies and mothers, and now involves nearly 2,500 families.

Trust chief executive Anthony May described the alleged comments made by staff as "shocking".

Speaking at the trust's annual meeting on Wednesday, Mr May said: "Some families very recently have fed back to me shocking examples of being stigmatised or gaslit - criticised for either being part of the independent review or for campaigning for better services.

"Families have heard that they are criticised for being in the review, and that they are in the review on the basis that they are seeking compensation.

"The families tell me that there are instances where they feel they have reason to believe they can trace that back to colleagues that work in NUH."

Dr Jack and Sarah Hawkins, who both used to work for the trust until their daughter Harriet was stillborn in 2016, have been campaigning to highlight failures at NUH ever since.

They described the comments as "horrific" and "unfathomably heartless".

Dr Hawkins said: "We have been called 'compo seekers'.

"There has been a comment made that people are in this group because they have been groomed by Sarah and I and other people who have been around for a long time, and that has come out of NUH.

"We want change. We don't have any other reason to be in this fight.

"The first thing to allow you to change is to recognise that you need to change. And if your attitude is that you don't and that we are, in fact, scamming the system in some way, then it's so disheartening.

"We're not doing this for any reason other than babies are dying and being harmed and mums are dying and being harmed and families are being ripped apart."

"To reduce that down to 'they're seeking compensation' is unfathomably heartless."

Ms Hawkins said: "Life couldn't get any worse... and then they said this about us, and we just feel like these complete, utter monsters."

Dr and Ms Hawkins said they "absolutely" think there should be disciplinary action against staff who made the comments.

Mr May said he wrote an email to each staff member at the trust to explain that the comments are "not acceptable".

He said: "I can't attribute it to an individual, and neither did the families, to be fair to them, and it could be on social media, it could be they hear it when they're out and about.

"No matter where they hear it or where it comes from, it's got to stop. It's absolutely shocking.

"The families I've met are some of the most courageous people I've ever come across, who have not only suffered lifelong trauma, but they're happy to tell their experiences over and over again to try and improve (services).

"The vast majority of people who work in the trust would never, ever, dream of doing that but if they do, then there are processes that we can use to deal with that."

More than 850 members of staff at the trust have come forward to Ms Ockenden's independent review of maternity care.

NUH is also being investigated for potential offences of corporate manslaughter over deaths related to maternity services at its hospitals.