East Kent NHS Trust charged over baby’s death
Reasons to choose Wilson Browne
The birth of a child should be a time of joy and celebration – sadly for some families, things can and do go wrong with tragic consequences.
Recent news from the BBC highlights one such case – a case that is typical of the type that our expert team deals with.
From the BBC:
An NHS trust has been charged over the death of a baby who died seven days after an emergency delivery.
Harry Richford died a week after he was born at Margate’s Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in 2017.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust had been charged with exposing Harry and his mother Sarah Richford to significant risk of avoidable harm.
The trust has apologised “unreservedly” to the family over its failings.
An inquest earlier this year ruled Harry’s death was “contributed to by neglect”.
Following the inquest, the independent Kirkup review of maternity services at the trust began after it emerged up to 15 babies had died there in recent years.
Louise Tyler, head of the Clinical/Medical Negligence team at Wilason browne Solicitors, comments:
A Landmark decision has been made by the CQC to bring Criminal Charges against East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust following the death of baby Harry Richford in Margate.
There have been a number of enquiries into maternity units across the country with regard to unnecessary baby deaths and maternal deaths in the last 12-24 months.
It is hoped that this investigation will enable the family to seek answers and will bring about a change in culture. There needs to be changes implemented quickly and effectively and lessons learned so that we don’t have baby deaths in the news headlines again.
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Louise Tyler
Partner
Louise is the Head of the Medical Negligence Team working in this area of law for 25 years. She is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel, the AvMA (Action for Victims of Medical Accidents) Panel and been appointed to the Executive Committee…