Leeds maternity scandal: Grieving mum hits out at Trust after daughter's death
A GRIEVING mother has described how she feels she was failed by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust after the care given to her baby daughter.
Lisa-Marie Thorpe initially planned to give birth in her home town of Halifax.
But when she was told at a routine scan that her daughter had serious heart defects, her care was transferred to Leeds.
Ms Thorpe was told doctors would need to induce labour in December 2024 so that specialists would be available as soon as her baby, Liberty Mae Fox, was born.
But the induction was delayed for three days owing to lack of cot space at Leeds, and Ms Thorpe ended up giving birth at Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax after going into spontaneous labour.
She said: “I couldn’t risk giving birth in the car. The staff in Calderdale Royal were panicked. They were not prepared for Liberty or trained for a baby with her heart conditions.”
She was then separated from her newborn daughter who was transferred to Leeds via ambulance.
“We were separated and I got no post-natal care. Leeds said Halifax should do it, and Halifax said Leeds should,” she said.
Once Liberty had been examined by specialists at Leeds, her mother was told that she was even more unwell than first diagnosed and that all that could be offered was palliative care.
Ms Thorpe asked for a second opinion which was given by Birmingham Children’s Hospital, but said she was deterred by staff from approaching Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital which does provide heart transplants for young children.
“They pushed and pushed for us to get out of the hospital. I was being told things like ‘this baby’s bed is costing £3000 a day,’” said Ms Thorpe.
“Beds and sheets never got changed, and she had to share a nurse, which she shouldn’t, it was supposed to be one to one care. Even a nurse whispered to us ‘take her to Newcastle’”
Eventually Ms Thorpe decided to move Liberty’s care to Newcastle, which she said was a “different level of care.”
Newcastle agreed to put Liberty on the organ transplant list for a new heart – but the little girl died just weeks later in April 2025 after contracting an infection.
Ms Thorpe is now hoping Liberty’s care will be examined as part of Donna Ockenden’s inquiry into Leeds’ maternity services after the Trust was rated inadequate.
Dr Elizabeth Garthwaite, Chief Medical Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We send our deepest condolences to Lisa-Marie and her family. “We apologise to Lisa-Marie for the delay in her induction and for the distress and uncertainty this caused her family.
“We understand that Lisa-Marie and her family will have further questions about the treatment options that were available for Liberty. We carefully assessed the options available and were supported by a highly experienced team from a second hospital.”