Maternity care probe team to meet with families

A bereaved mother is hoping a maternity and neonatal care review into her local NHS trust will help gain answers about the loss of her baby.

Beth Cooper said she felt dismissed by staff at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, when she repeatedly expressed concerns about her unborn son Felix in the lead up to his death at 34 weeks.

The 31-year-old has described sessions being held on Saturday between bereaved parents and investigators involved with the review into University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UHSussex) as a "massive" moment.

UHSussex said it was unable to comment on specific cases but that it "fully supports the review process".

A former neonatal nursery nurse, Cooper said she felt treated like an "anxious first time mum" by trust staff.

She said she had gone into hospital four days in a row prior to Felix's death in 2022 because he no longer felt as "active" as before, making her suspect "something really bad was wrong".

The final time she returned was on Christmas Eve that year, only to be told that he had died.

Cooper added that giving birth to Felix via C-section on Christmas Day had been the "loneliest moment of my entire life".

In addition, she claimed no doctor came to check on her for several days afterwards, leaving her feeling that "because Felix passed away he didn't really matter".

Cooper, who campaigned for the review, called for more families who experienced concerns over their care at the trust to come forward.

The maternity review into UHSussex was announced last year by then Health Secretary, Wes Streeting.

The independent investigation will be led by senior midwife and investigator Donna Ockenden and will look at more than 1,000 cases, dating back to 2018.

UHSussex chief executive, Dr Andy Heeps, said the trust "fully supports the review process, so families can get the answers they need and we take any possible opportunity to learn and improve".

"Our thoughts remain first and foremost with the families whose babies have died or who have suffered harm when receiving care in our hospitals.

"Our overriding priority is always to provide the safest possible care, which is why our maternity teams have implemented many positive changes in recent years," he added.

"We will work with the review team to find new ways of making our services better and safer."

Additional reporting by PA Media.

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