Jack and Sarah Hawkins lost their daughter and their careers (Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
The largest maternity review in NHS history is due to be published on Wednesday, detailing how widespread failings led to deaths in Nottingham. Around 2,500 families have been involved, including cases of babies and mothers who were harmed dating back to April 2012. Senior midwife Donna Ockenden’s report on care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust is expected to identify shocking care failures at every level.
One mother whose daughter was stillborn after medical errors called for “individual sanctions” for those responsible. Sarah and Jack Hawkins lost their daughter Harriet in 2016 after multiple errors, including a lack of monitoring during six days of labour. Mr Hawkins, 57, said: “Our biggest thing is, how has this happened in plain sight of the state, the mandarins in the Department of Health and Social Care, the board of NHS England?
“How on earth have we allowed it that there are 1,000 avoidable baby deaths in this country every year, and, in a particular place, there are this many schools’ worth of children missing or damaged beyond belief, and dead mums and damaged mums? How have we got here?”
An initial review into Harriet’s care by NUH found no errors. It concluded she had died from an infection.
The grieving parents launched their own investigation, and an external inquiry identified 13 failings in care. Their legal case against the trust was settled out of court for £2.8 million in 2021.
Mr Hawkins called for a statutory public inquiry into the scandal. He added: “We have a dead child. And instead of saying: ‘Jesus, we knew this is terrible,’ they said: ‘No, you did something wrong. She was wrong. We did everything right,’ and just tried to bury us.”
Both parents worked for NUH at the time Harriet died. Mr Hawkins was a hospital consultant, and Mrs Hawkins, 43, was a senior physiotherapist.
She said: “Not only was our daughter killed, but we couldn’t go back to our careers, our jobs, everything. Every single aspect of life was changed.
“I know a lot of Nottingham families just want some form of justice, to clear their children’s name, to know that the harm that was caused wasn’t their fault.
“I think there needs to be individual sanctions because at the minute — and in Nottingham — you can harm or kill babies and nothing happens. There is no accountability.”
Harriet Hawkins ( Baby ) (Image: Harriet was delivered nine hours after she died)
NUH has already paid out millions of pounds in compensation and fines to affected families.
Nottinghamshire Police launched a corporate manslaughter case last year as part of a wider criminal investigation into the maternity failings.
On Monday, the force said two men had been arrested “in connection with operating practices in the mortuary service” provided by the trust. The men, aged 55 and 59, were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office.
More than 800 members of staff have been involved in the review.
A senior source with knowledge of the report told The Guardian the findings would be “very bad”. They added: “It’s going to be horrendous. There will be some pretty challenging stuff in the report.”
