CQC admits it falsely claimed not to know about trust maternity concerns

Baby Harriet Hawkins died during her mother’s six-day labour at Nottingham City Hospital in 2016 following a series of mistakes by hospital staff. 

Last year, the CQC launched an independent external review after Harriet’s parents Sarah and Jack claimed a right of reply statement provided by the regulator to the ITV documentary Maternity: Broken Trust was “dishonest”.

In a CQC board meeting on Wednesday, chief inspector of hospitals Toli Onon said that although the investigation was still ongoing, the organisation had determined that the statement it supplied was “inaccurate”. 

The CQC’s statement had claimed that because Nottingham University Hospitals Trust had not declared Harriet’s death a serious incident, the regulator was not aware of the case until 2020. However, the CQC has now admitted this claim was wrong. The Hawkins family claims to have seen emails revealing communication between NUH and the CQC in 2018.

In the ITV programme, Harriet’s parents shared their distress that the trust had not been prosecuted over the care failures. The CQC has the power to prosecute providers, but action must be brought within three years of the alleged offence.

Maternity care at NUH is subject to an independent review being undertaken by Dame Donna Ockenden.

In the board meeting, Ms Onon said: “We provided that statement to the producers of an ITV documentary Maternity: Broken Trust, and it was not accurate in relation to when we were first made aware of the details of Harriet’s case.

“On behalf of CQC, I’ve apologised in writing to the Hawkins family for this error and for the distress it’s caused them. I know we’re all truly sorry.”

She added: “I have shared my commitment to ensuring that the independent review will provide clarity, answers and learning…

“We will take the learning that arises from it to improve how we handle information coming into the organisation so that we are transparent, accurate and compassionate in our dealings with families, patients, and service users.”

Harriet’s parents said they had been “devastated” by the CQC’s statement, which they described as “untrue and unfair”.

They added: “Our vision of setting out to get answers for our daughter, whose death was completely avoidable, once again polluted with false narratives and statements.

“We note the CQC apology and acknowledgement that their right to reply was not accurate. We welcome and support an independent review into the CQC’s handling of Harriet’s death. Openness, transparency and honesty from the start would have avoided this, yet another investigation into our daughter.”