Families launch maternity inquiry after NHS failures

Dozens of families say they have been forced to launch their own inquiry into a troubled maternity care service after being shut out by an NHS review.

- REBECCA THOMAS

More than 70 families who claim they were harmed by maternity care in Swansea are set to launch a family-led maternity review after they lost faith in an inquiry commissioned by Swansea Bay Health Board.

Leading maternity safety expert Donna Ockenden warned the health board had failed families and that the current review would be meaningless without their engagement.

The warning comes after a House of Lords committee said public inquiries keep “failing” as there is no obligation on the government to implement their recommendations.

Swansea Bay University Health Board announced it would commission an independent review into its maternity and neonatal services following concerns raised by families over deaths and injuries to babies during birth and by women who have suffered traumatic births due to alleged poor care.

Dozens of Welsh parents have spent years campaigning for a review into failings in the maternity unit.

However, nine months on from the review announcement, those families now feel they have been ignored by the review’s key staff and believe the process is not independent of the health board.

Rob and Sian Channon lead the Swansea Bay Maternity Campaign Group. Their son, Gethin, was born in March 2019 at Singleton Hospital, and due to multiple failings by the maternity service, he now suffers from quadriplegic cerebral palsy, a severe disability that requires care 24 hours a day.