Ockenden Report is ‘hard thing to read’ says Mayor of the East Midlands

The Mayor of the East Midlands has released a statement following today’s publication of the Ockenden Maternity Review into maternity services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward said: “The Ockenden Report is a hard thing to read. It lays out decades of avoidable harm to babies, mothers, and families – harm which was exacerbated during periods of pressure on the NHS.

“It does, however, do as it promised: centred the experience of the thousands of women and families who came forward, ensured that those experiences were learned from in real time, and pursued accountability. From the charges successfully prosecuted by the CQC last year to the arrests made recently, we can see the green shoots of justice for these families, who have endured every parent’s worst nightmare.

“It is important, too, that the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has started to shift its culture to one of accepting that accountability, learning from it, and translating it into better care and clinical outcomes. It is this that will ensure that this cannot happen again.”