Health watchdog launches review into baby's death after parents call out 'blatant untruths'
A health watchdog has launched a review into how it handled the case of a baby girl who died after multiple failures at a Nottingham hospital.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said an external investigation would take place into its "knowledge and handling of information" relating to the death of Harriet Hawkins in 2016.
Harriet was stillborn in 2016 at Nottingham’s City Hospital after a five-day labour.
An independent report published 20 months later found a catalogue of errors contributed to her "almost certainly preventable" death.
Harriet's parents, Sarah and Jack Hawkins, were awarded £2.8 million following a settlement with Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) in 2021.
This came after the trust initially denied wrongdoing, blaming Harriet's death on an infection.
While campaigning for justice over their daughter's death, Sarah and Jack Hawkins, who used to work for NUH, sought help from the CQC, which has the power to prosecute trusts over wrongful deaths.
In an ITV documentary on the maternity scandal, "Maternity: Broken Trust", the watchdog said it was not made aware of the case for four-and-a-half years.
In its right of reply statement at the end of the programme, the CQC said this went beyond its three-year prosecution window.
However, the Hawkins called these "blatant untruths" as they have evidence of emails between NUH and the CQC from 2018 - within the prosecution period.
The watchdog has now said a review will take place which will directly work with the family.
A CQC spokesperson said: "We will be commissioning an external review into the CQC’s knowledge and handling of information relating to Harriet Hawkins’ death, and our engagement with the Hawkins family in response to concerns about the care received at Nottingham City Hospital.
"We will be working with Jack and Sarah Hawkins directly to develop the terms of reference for this review and to agree next steps."
"We'll be watching them like a hawk"
Jack and Sarah said a review could potentially pave the way for a prosecution over Harriet's death, but added they have "not got much hope".
"We'll be watching them like a hawk. It needs to be entirely external of the CQC," said Jack.
Sarah added: "It's an organisation that's meant to protect us but we've not got much hope."
Jack also said he would be pursuing an apology from the CQC over their statement in the national documentary.
"They could apologise right now for their right of reply. They used a national programme to cover up," he said. "We will be chasing them for that.
"They're [the public's] regulator, not the hospitals' regulator, but what have they been doing? The damage they have caused us and so many others is huge."
Last year, NUH was fined £800,000 over serious failings in the care of Sarah Andrews and her baby Wynter, who died 23 minutes after being born at the Queen's Medical Centre. It was only the second prosecution the regulator has brought against an NHS maternity unit.
NUH is currently subject to the largest maternity review in NHS history following hundreds of baby deaths and injuries, with almost 2,000 families' cases being included.
Nottinghamshire Police is also launching an investigation into the the Trust.
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