The Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation

Download or read book The Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation written by Bill Kirkup and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the great majority, pregnancy and childbirth should be a positive and happy experience that culminates in a healthy mother and baby. This means, however, that on those occasions when things do go wrong, the effects are even more devastating than in other areas of healthcare. Maternity care must reconcile these dual aspects in order to be safe, effective and responsive. When it does not, the consequences may be stark. This Report details a distressing chain of events that began with serious failures of clinical care in the maternity unit at Furness General Hospital, part of what became the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust. The result was avoidable harm to mothers and babies, including tragic and unnecessary deaths. What followed was a pattern of failure to recognise the nature and severity of the problem, with, in some cases, denial that any problem existed, and a series of missed opportunities to intervene that involved almost every level of the NHS. These events have finally been brought to light thanks to the efforts of some diligent and courageous families, who persistently refused to accept what they were being told. Those families deserve great credit. This Report includes detailed and damning criticisms of the maternity unit, the Trust and the regulatory and supervisory system. This Report sets out why that is and how it could have been avoided.