Families call for removal of ex-SHA chair from care failings review

In a letter sent to the families involved on Friday afternoon, NHS England said it was appointing Julie Dent, a former trust chair and strategic health authority chief executive, to chair what it called an “independent thematic review”.

However, families have said in a statement today (25 April) that receiving the letter in an email “caused a great deal of distress” and left them feeling “let down, confused and further traumatised”.

“We would urge Julie Dent to strongly consider her appointment. Families request she declines the offer of chair,” they said.

In the letter sent on Friday, NHSE said it had “listened carefully to the concerns raised by local families about the leadership, pace and methodology of this review” and ”it is clear that urgent changes… to how the review is being delivered need to be made”.

A “thematic review” was first announced last year after the Independent and Channel 4 reported dozens of babies died or were brain damaged after errors were made at NUH over the last decade. More than 460 families have since contacted the review team.

It was being overseen by NHSE with local commissioners, but earlier this month the families called for an independent inquiry and asked for it to be carried out by Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife who chaired the high-profile review of Shropshire maternity services which reported earlier this month. They reiterated this in the recent statement. 

They also raised concerns about the small number of clinical leads working on the review and said outreach work done to involve new families in it had been poor.

Today’s letter from NHSE chief operating officer Sir David Sloman said Ms Dent would take on the role of chair “with immediate effect”.

Sir David said: “A new chair needs to lead this review with sufficient senior experience to address the concerns and challenges faced at Nottingham University Hospitals, to speed up the process and to deliver a review that can bring about real change for women and babies in Nottingham.”

He said the “review will now have enhanced national oversight by NHS England and NHS Improvement”.

Sir David said: ”The review will seek to specifically address issues at Nottingham University Hospitals and, building on the work to date, the review team under Julie’s leadership will consider what changes are needed to the methodology and terms of reference to ensure that families are listened to and able to see how their own experiences of poor care are being used to drive forward improvements in their local maternity service.

“The NHS is committed to providing the safest possible maternity services for families, and I hope this will be an important step in restoring confidence in this review’s process and ultimately improving NHS care and support for women and their families.

“I am determined to ensure the local NHS learns from this review and makes the changes identified to prevent other families suffering such devastating pain and loss.”

Following the publication of the letter, health and social care secretary Sajid Javid said on Twitter that the “maternity review must urgently bring about real change and prevent more families from suffering. I’m confident the appointment of Julie Dent, with her extensive experience, will deliver a review that helps address these tragic failures.”

A spokeswoman for Nottingham University Hospitals said: “We will continue to engage fully with the independent review and remain committed to improving local maternity services using feedback from the review as well as local families and NHS partners.”