Police "have to take action" against those who caused baby deaths at Nottingham's Hospitals
Families are calling for Nottinghamshire Police to individually investigate every case of poor care, as the independent review into maternity services marks its first anniversary
Families affected by maternity care failings at a NHS Trust are calling for police action against those who allowed the death and harm towards hundreds of babies and mothers in Nottingham.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust are under an independent review into their maternity care which was launched a year ago this Friday (1st September).
The review is being led by Senior midwife, Donna Ockenden, who previously investigated maternity failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
With more than 1800 families and 650 NHS staff members sharing their experiences and concerns, the review into Nottingham's maternity services is set to be the largest in NHS history.
"These families went in with healthy babies and had to go home with empty car seats or carry their tiny white coffins" - Sarah Hawkins
Dr Jack Hawkins and his wife, Sarah lost their daughter Harriet who died under poor maternity care in 2016.
Dr Hawkins was a consultant in acute medicine, with Mrs Hawkins a senior physiotherapist at NUHT when Harriet was born,
They were falsely told that their daughter had died from an infection rather than a mismanaged labour and became one of the first to raise concerns over care failings.
Harriet was buried in early 2019, having remained in a hospital mortuary since her death, with her parents since welcoming a second daughter, three-year-old Lottie.
They questioned why no-one has been brought to account over the failings, echoing calls from the Nottingham Families Maternity Group for police to investigate.
Jack Hawkins said: "Was Harriet's avoidable death and the subsequent actions by people a the hospital criminal? We say they were and we're not going to stop until we have that heard and explained to us why it's not going to court."
"Not a single person has been held to account.
"It is clearly a matter for the police now and every family needs consideration."
Sarah Hawkins says the "cover up" in Nottingham's maternity units draws parallels with Lucy Letby case, where a nurse at a Chester hospital was found guilty of murdering seven babies and trying to kill six others
She said the police had to be involved because "it is really traumatising for the Nottingham families as there are so many similarities between that case and Nottingham".
"These families went in with healthy babies and had to go home with empty car seats or they have had to carry their tiny white coffins.
"In no other walk of life would that be ok."
More families back police action
The Nottingham Families Maternity Group said that while progress had been made, there had still been no sanction against senior leaders or staff , who at times were "rewarding" unsafe care.
While the group welcomed co-operation from NUHT, which has pledged to publicly apologise to affected families in due course, the families called for a police investigation into whether anyone is criminally culpable at the trust.
Felicity Benyon had her bladder incorrectly removed by NUHT in an emergency hysterectomy during the delivery of her second child in 2015.
She said she was blamed for the error, which has caused her to suffer sepsis and septicaemia, and now lives with a urostomy stoma bag.
The 37-year-old, from Mansfield, said: "If someone has caused harm and danger and they are potentially going to cause harm and danger again, we need to prevent that from happening."
Families have told us they are trying arrange a meeting with Nottinghamshire Police's Chief Constable, Kate Meynell, to discuss whether a criminal investigation could be launched.
Nottinghamshire Police has been approached for comment.
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust promise change
In July, Ms Ockenden announced that hundreds more cases would be investigated after NHS England agreed cases would be dealt with on an opt-out basis.
Families would be contacted having the option to opt out of being included, with the hope it would encourage more to share their experiences.
Anthony May, chief executive of NUHT, said that it had "prioritised our engagement" with the review and that it was "committed to making the necessary improvements".
He said: "We work closely with the review team led by Donna Ockenden and meet regularly with the team to listen to the feedback, respond accordingly and inform our improvement plan.
"We are determined to fulfil the commitment we made in July to an open and honest relationship with the families involved in the review and all women and families within our maternity services.
"We still have a long way, but our communities can be assured that maternity services are improving and we are making sustainable progress in a number of areas to benefit the safety and wellbeing of women, families and staff as part of our Maternity Improvement Programme.
"We are focused on learning from incidents, improving our culture and communicating more effectively with women and families that use our services."