Detectives looking into around 600 cases for the Ockenden report

Detectives working alongside and liaising with the Ockenden Report team are examining approximately 600 cases for potential criminal behaviour.

Following the release of the final version of the Ockenden report into maternity care and treatment at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, West Mercia Police said its own investigation was ongoing.

Detective Chief Superintendent Damian Barratt, who is leading the investigation, said: “We have been liaising closely with the Ockenden Review and are, of course, aware of the release of the report.

“Our investigation, named Operation Lincoln, was launched in 2017 to explore whether there is evidence to support a criminal case against the Trust or any individuals involved.

"This investigation remains ongoing and very much active.

“This is a highly complex and very sensitive investigation that has required us to speak to a large number of people to gather as much information as we can.”

The officer added: “We are also consulting with a number of medical specialists to ensure our investigation is thorough and that the best possible investigation is completed for the families involved.

“No arrests have been made and no charges have been brought, however we are engaging with the Crown Prosecution Service as our inquiries continue.

"We will be fully reviewing the findings of the report and feeding appropriate elements into our investigation.

“We do not underestimate the impact the report’s findings and our ongoing investigation has on the families involved, who have suffered unimaginable trauma and grief that they still live with today.

“Our thoughts remain with them, and we can reassure the community that when there is an update on our investigation we will share this with the families involved first and foremost and then to the wider public.”

During a statement to MPs on Wednesday, Health Secretary Sajid Javid offered assurances that the people responsible for “serious and repeated failures” will be held to account.

"I’d like to reassure MPs that a number of people who were working at the trust at the time of the incidents have been suspended or struck off from the professional register, and members of senior management have also been removed from their posts.

“There is also an active police investigation, Operation Lincoln, which is looking at around 600 cases.”

Speaking to MPs, Mr Javid said: "The report shows a systemic failure to listen to families affected, many of whom who had been doggedly persistent in raising issues over several years.

"One mother said that she felt like a lone voice in the wind.

"Bereaved families told the report that they were treated in a way that lacked sensitivity and empathy and appallingly in some cases the trust blamed these mothers for the trauma that they had been through.

"In the words of Donna Ockenden the trust failed to investigate, failed to learn and failed to improve.

"We entrust the NHS with our care, often when we are at our most vulnerable. In return we expect the high standards.

"I have seen with my own family the brilliant care the NHS maternity services can offer.

"But when those standards are not met, we must act firmly and the failures of care and compassion that are set out in this report have absolutely no place in the NHS.

"To all the families that have suffered so greatly I am sorry.

"The report clearly shows you that were failed by a service that was there to help you and your loved ones to bring life into this world.

"We will make the changes that the report says are needed at both a local and national level."