Health Secretary needs to prioritise meeting Leeds maternity scandal victims
The new Health Secretary Yvette Cooper will have a bulging in-tray of issues that urgently need to be addressed. From the ongoing battle to get hospital waiting lists down to the need to grasp the nettle on social care. But few are more urgent than improving maternity safety.
It is scandalous that the safety of expectant mothers and new born children has been compromised. They are the most vulnerable in society and as such the NHS should not be putting them in harm’s way.
The Leeds maternity scandal has shocked people across the country but the bravery of the bereaved families is to be applauded. They have recounted their harrowing ordeals in a bid to raise awareness of the failings in Leeds. All so that no other family has to go through the pain and suffering that they have experienced.
Highly respected senior midwife Donna Ockenden is leading a review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
The Leeds Maternity Families Group said: “Our hope is that Yvette Cooper will already grasp the extent of the problem, as many of her constituents rely on the care of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. We are imploring her to support and engage with the work being done by Donna Ockenden’s team in the Independent Review into its maternity services.”
Cooper must meet bereaved families promptly and show that the Government is taking them seriously. The new Health Secretary must also take on board Ockenden’s findings because that is the only way the Government can deliver the urgent improvements necessary to prevent more mothers and babies from coming to harm.