Bereaved Leeds maternity families 'reassured' after Yvette Cooper meeting
The Health Secretary said after the meeting at Headingley Stadium that the families’ stories were “heart-breaking”.
Bereaved families in Leeds who have lost babies over issues with maternity care have said they have felt “reassured” with Yvette Cooper’s commitment to them, after meeting the Health Secretary at Headingley.
Ms Cooper heard from a number of families yesterday who are involved with the review into maternity and neonatal services in the city, which is being chaired by Donna Ockenden.
A BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is now representing more than 50 families in action against the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT).
LTHT interim chief executive Brendan Brown has pledged that the trust is “absolutely committed to working openly, honestly and transparently with Donna Ockenden and the review team”.
“We have been reassured in her commitment to maternity across the board and she absolutely heard every single family’s voice,” Lauren Caulfield told The Yorkshire Post.
Ms Caulfield’s daughter Grace was stillborn in 2022. Medical staff then lost her placenta, meaning vital tests to ascertain Grace’s cause of death could not be done.
A Health Safety Investigation Branch report found several care issues including Grace’s growth not being consistently monitored because of the use of different systems between Leeds and Bradford, where Ms Caulfield was also being treated.
Speaking about the meeting, she said Ms Cooper “sat and listened and was visibly moved by a lot of people’s experiences”.
“She understands that further work needs to be done to ensure no stone gets left unturned in Leeds,” Ms Caulfield added.
Ms Cooper said after the meeting that the families’ stories were “heart-breaking”.
She said: “I want to pay tribute to families who have kept campaigning on this having been through the most awful experiences themselves, and it just shows how crucial it is that we make maternity services a priority, here in Leeds, but also right across the country.”
She added: “My feeling is that maternity services, neonatal services, it’s been seen as a bit of a sidecar to the main hospital.
“They haven’t been taken seriously, as a central part of our National Health Service.
“My strong view is that mums and babies must never be treated as second-class patients.
“This has to be seen as one of the most important things our National Health Service does – provide that support of the start in life.
“That’s why I want a new national framework of standards that we’ll have in place before Christmas, but also a major action plan of reforms, of improvement and support for families, because every family deserves the very best start in life.”