Dozens of newborns have died due to inadequate care, a ‘culture of denial’ in maternity hospitals and indifference to the cares of new mothers: a new scandal, the second since the beginning of the year in England, exposes the inadequacy in some of the hospital’s maternity wards United Kingdom.

Seven months after the publication of the study on hospitals in the West of England, Dr Bill Kerkap and other experts presented their findings on the cases of 202 people – mothers or babies born between 2009 and 2020 – at two large maternity hospitals in south east Kent , England.

Of the 65 childhood deaths, 45 could have been avoided.

“What happened in east Kent is sad and painful,” Kerkapp said at a press conference. “Deaths, injuries and other harm could have had a different outcome if care had been provided in accordance with national standards,” he added.

The investigation was launched following the November 2017 death of Harry Richford, seven days after he was born by caesarean section. The death, which, according to experts, is due to a number of “weak points” in the system, from the way the “inexperienced” doctor delivered the baby to the delay in cardiorespiratory resuscitation of the infant.

Of the 17 cases of traumatic brain injury, 12 would not have occurred if proper treatment had been carried out. Also, 23 maternal deaths or injuries out of 32 could have been avoided.

“The culture of denial”

Bill Kerkap denounced what he called the “culture of denial” in public hospitals. One issue was repeatedly raised by many victims: the failure of hospital staff to consider mothers when they expressed their concerns, when they questioned their treatment and decisions made about them.

The experts found “gross deficiencies in teamwork” in maternity wards, “lack of mutual trust”, “huge conceit” of some obstetricians and “group behavior” of some midwives.

Jeremy Hunt, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer who was Secretary of Health between 2012 and 2018, spoke about the “terrifying scandal” on Twitter, thanking Bill Kerkapp for his “new report”.

This is the second investigation whose findings have been made public. The previous one, in March, dealt with maternity hospitals in the west of England, and Boris Johnson’s government at the time was forced to apologize for what was being reported. According to this first report, more than 200 infant deaths in 20 years could have been avoided had it not been for doctors’ insistence on caesarean sections and appropriate treatment.

Donna Okenden, who led the first investigation, conducted another one in May, this time in the Nottingham area of ​​central England, following complaints from several families.

In 2015, an investigation into maternity hospitals in the north of England was published, which also concluded that many child deaths could have been avoided. Bill Kerkap was also its editor at the time. “When I wrote this report (…), I never imagined for a minute that I would be here again seven years later (…) to talk about the same issue,” he said. “This can’t go on (…) We just can’t pretend that this is the last time something like this happens,” he added.

Tracey Fletcher, head of the hospital group under investigation, apologized, as did Health Secretary Caroline Johnson.

“I can never forgive,” Bex Walton, whose son Tommy died in 2020, told the BBC. “What they’re doing now is not enough because my son will never be with me again.”

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}