A major hospital trust was accused tonight of covering up suspicious baby deaths.
It has repeatedly failed to report tragedies to coroners or investigate potential failings, the Mail can reveal. Grieving families believe senior staff tried to brush off deaths by claiming they were ‘expected’ or by implying mothers were to blame.
East Kent Hospitals University Trust is now at the centre of a major probe following the deaths of at least 15 babies in potentially avoidable circumstances since 2011.
Figures obtained under freedom of information laws show at least 124 infants have died after being born at the NHS trust over the past seven years. Yet only 24 of the deaths were reported to coroners even though many were sudden and unexplained.
Hospitals should inform the coroner of such cases and around 45 per cent of all deaths are referred on for an initial investigation.
East Kent admits in another freedom of information response that just 11 of its 93 stillbirths and newborn deaths over the past two years led to a ‘serious incident’ investigation.
Hospitals are obliged to launch one whenever a patient dies or comes to harm ‘avoidably or unexpectedly’ as a result of staff actions.
The major independent inquiry into the trust’s maternity services was ordered by ministers in February.
The extent of the failings came to light a month earlier during the inquest of a baby who died in November 2017 in what the coroner called ‘wholly avoidable’ circumstances.
Sarah and Tom Richford with their son Harry who died seven days after he was born in November 2017 at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate
A view of the entrance to the maternity unit of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate, Kent, part of the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust
Harry Richford was delivered by an emergency caesarean section which was performed too late and by an inexperienced locum doctor who had not been assessed by the trust.
A second doctor delayed resuscitating Harry and he died from irreversible brain damage seven days later.
Other families came forward to report their own potentially avoidable tragedies – claims backed by the shocking figures about newborn deaths and stillbirths.
The East Kent inquiry was launched while health officials were investigating maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust, where 1,800 families have reported baby deaths, harm and poor care.
East Kent initially refused to refer Harry’s death to the coroner but his grandfather, Derek Richford, did so in March 2018, fearing staff were trying to cover up mistakes.
Mr Richford, who uncovered the hospital’s figures with freedom of information requests, said: ‘Since Harry died we have found that the trust have done everything in their power to avoid scrutiny. I still can’t fully decide if this was a matter of gross incompetence or a conspiracy to cover failings.’
Kirsty Stead, whose baby Reid Andrew Shaw died last November, also accused the trust’s staff of not ‘telling the truth’.
Nick Fairweather, a medical negligence solicitor who is representing 12 families, said he feared there was a ‘concerted cover-up’.
He added: ‘This needs the most thorough investigation and scrutiny. My fear is that while these problems continue not to be checked effectively, more babies are unnecessarily killed or harmed.’
East Kent Hospitals University Trust, to which the QEQM hospital belongs (pictured), is at the centre of a major probe following the deaths of at least 15 babies since 2011 (file photo)
Maureen Treadwell, of the Birth Trauma Association, said: ‘So many trusts have a greater focus on looking good rather than being good. Staff are scared to be honest despite the duty of candour they have.’
The Mail has also spoken to other mothers whose baby deaths were not investigated or referred to coroners.
Some said that staff suggested they were to blame for the tragedies, either by contracting infections which they passed to their babies or through refusing medical interventions.
A letter from the senior coroner for Mid Kent and Medway to legal teams representing families warns that ‘deaths of babies within the trust which should have been referred to the coroner at the time of the death had not been’.
The note adds: ‘I am of course now aware of a number of historic baby deaths that were not referred to the coroner at the time.’
East Kent serves a population of three quarters of a million and maternity services are run from two of its major hospitals, the William Harvey in Ashford and the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in Margate.
Experts claims its failings are widespread and range from consultants being reluctant to work weekends to midwives not detecting infections or deteriorating heartbeats.
The trust will come under further scrutiny later this year with the inquest of Archie Batten, who died last September after his mother Rachel Higgs was turned away from a maternity unit.
Separately, the Care Quality Commission watchdog is due to announce imminently whether it will bring a criminal prosecution for the failings leading up to baby Harry’s death.
The latest official data shows that East Kent’s neonatal death rates, the number of babies dying in their first 28 days, and its stillbirth rates, are relatively high.
According to an Oxford University report last October it has 5.47 deaths per 1,000 births compared with an average of 4.96 for similar-sized hospitals.
A spokesman for East Kent said: ‘We are treating the concerns raised about the safety of the service with the utmost seriousness and urgency.
‘We have made significant changes to maternity care and we will not rest until we are delivering an outstanding maternity service.
‘We have welcomed the independent investigation into East Kent maternity services and we are doing everything in our power to assist and support it.’
The inquiry into East Kent is being overseen by Dr Bill Kirkup, a former associate chief medical officer at the Department of Health. He also chaired a damning report into the maternity scandal at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay in Cumbria.
Harry Richford pictured here with parents Sarah and Tom, died at just seven days old
Avoidable death that sparked the inquiry
The death of Harry Richford exposed the extent of failings at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust and prompted other families to come forward.
His mother Sarah had an emergency caesarean performed by a locum doctor who had not been fully assessed by the trust.
But the procedure in November 2017 should have been carried out much earlier and Harry was born silent and floppy and needed to be resuscitated.
He died seven days later and an inquest in January ruled his death was ‘wholly avoidable’.
Harry’s family believe the trust had no intention of referring his death to the coroner and his grandfather Derek Richford took matters into his own hands in March 2018 and reported the death himself.
They also claim staff said Harry’s death was ‘expected’ and pretended there were no complications during the birth, even though it was extremely traumatic.
Other grieving families subsequently came forward and in February the Government launched an independent inquiry into the trust chaired by Dr Bill Kirkup.
He oversaw the investigation into the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay scandal in which up to 30 mothers and babies died.
Mr Richford believes there have been systemic problems for more than six years.
A spokesman for East Kent Hospitals acknowledged that Harry’s death should have been referred to the coroner.
They added: ‘We recognise that we have not always provided the right standard of care for every woman and baby in our hospitals and we wholeheartedly apologise to families for whom we could have done thing differently.’
‘I’m very angry. My son had no chance!’
Kirsty Stead, pictured left, has accused the East Kent trust of misleading her about the true cause of her son Reid’s death after he was stillborn at the QEQM hospital at 37 weeks
Kirsty Stead has accused the East Kent trust of misleading her about the true cause of her son’s death.
The 23-year-old was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital in Margate at 37 weeks experiencing severe stomach and back pain, as well as excessive movement.
At this stage she says she was told she may have a slight infection in her placenta and was sent home.
Two weeks later, the day before her due date, she phoned the maternity ward complaining once again with severe pain, irregular contractions and excessive movement. After two more calls she was finally advised to come in. Once she arrived at hospital, staff were unable to locate a heartbeat and she was told her baby, Reid Andrew Shaw, had died.
Miss Stead said ‘I was told initially he’d died because the cord was wrapped around him. But the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch report says it was the infection that killed him. So someone wasn’t telling the truth at the start.
‘It felt like they thought I was overreacting because I wasn’t experienced. I’m angry, very angry. Not for me but for my son. He had no chance.
‘We should have been receiving the best care but we didn’t.’
‘Why did they not spot his infection?’
Katy King, pictured with Fletcher, said staff failed to believe she was in labour as she was only 28 weeks pregnant. Her son died aged nine days after family say staff failed to spot infection
Katy King said staff refused to believe she was in labour went she started experiencing contractions at 28 weeks.
Her baby son Fletcher was born following an emergency caesarean section but although he was weak and small, he was breathing with minimal assistance by the time he was two days old.
She and her partner Jason were told that their son would have to stay at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, until he put on more weight but he should have been fit to go home in around a month.
But Fletcher suddenly became ill at nine days old and died four days later. He had suffered numerous seizures each day and doctors believed he had some unspecified genetic condition.
The family said staff failed to spot he had developed a fungal infection, which could have been treated. They believe if he had been born at a hospital 40 miles away he would have been given the correct antibiotics from birth.
Miss King said: ‘We’ll never know if he’d been given the anti-fungal medication, would he ever have got the infection. It just has such a horrific effect on everyone.’