Shrewsbruy and Telford Hospital Trust paid £50million in compensation to parents maternity scandal

Scandal-hit Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has paid £50million in compensation to parents of babies who died or have disabilities due to failings in care

  • More than 80 families have brought claims against scandal-hit NHS trust 
  • A total of 52 cases have been settled for £47.5m with 40 still being probed 
  • Claims involve stillbirths, bowel damage, incontinence and psychological harm

A scandal-hit hospital trust has paid out almost £50 million in compensation to parents whose babies died or were left with disabilities, it was revealed last night.

More than 80 families have brought claims against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust since 2006-07. Of these, 52 cases settled for £47.5 million – including £39.2 million in compensation.

Most of this money will be used to cover the costs of caring for permanently disabled children. 

Forty cases are still being investigated by NHS Resolution, the body which deals with negligence claims on behalf of hospitals, meaning the trust could pay out tens of millions more.

More than 80 families have brought claims against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust since 2006-07. File image used 

The trust paid compensation for seven deaths, six cases described as the loss of a baby and 14 cases of brain damage or cerebral palsy, The Independent reported.

The claims also included cases of stillbirths, bowel damage, incontinence and psychological damage. 

The failings included inadequate nursing care, excessive force, inappropriate use of equipment such as forceps, and bacterial infections.

There were also ten cases of delays in treatments, five failures to respond to abnormal foetal heart rates and six failures to recognise complications.

It comes a month after it emerged that more than 600 allegations of shocking care at the hospitals had been identified. 

Investigators found evidence that more than 90 babies died or suffered serious harm over four decades of failings at the Shropshire trust.

Rhiannon Davies, whose daughter Kate Stanton-Davies died due to catastrophic medical mistakes at Ludlow Community Hospital in 2009, said many parents received only a small amount of compensation for the deaths of their babies.

‘All of these were avoidable or they wouldn’t have had to pay out,’ she said. ‘This is a tragic legacy and it’s an issue across maternity – these are mistakes that should have been learned from.’ 

The trust (aerial view of Royal Shrewsbury Hospital pictured) paid compensation for seven deaths, six cases described as the loss of a baby and 14 cases of brain damage or cerebral palsy

The trust (aerial view of Royal Shrewsbury Hospital pictured) paid compensation for seven deaths, six cases described as the loss of a baby and 14 cases of brain damage or cerebral palsy

Kay Kelly, of Lanyon Bowdler solicitors in Shropshire, who represented some of the families who brought cases against the trust, said: ‘There is clear evidence of failures to act over worrying CTG [foetal heart rate] traces. 

‘That comes up time and time again as well as not intervening early enough when there are signs the baby is in distress.

‘I do think it’s essential we get to the bottom of what has been going wrong at the trust.’

Dr Michael Magro, who carried out a study of cerebral palsy claims for NHS Resolution, said the issues at the trust ‘were another wake-up call for the NHS and maternity that something does need to change’.

‘The failure to learn appears quite widespread,’ he said.

Paula Clark, chief executive of the Shrewsbury trust, said: ‘The loss of, or serious injury to, a baby is a tragedy. 

‘When mistakes happen which cause or contribute to this, we have a moral duty to ensure that we learn from this and we apologise when the care we have provided is not what it should have been.’

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