Morecambe Bay Trust full statement:

University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust has apologised unreservedly to the families of those who suffered as a result of poor care in the maternity unit at Furness General Hospital between 2004 and 2013.

Pearse Butler, the chair of the Trust Board said, “This Trust made some very serious mistakes in the way it cared for mothers and their babies. More than that, the same mistakes were repeated. And after making those mistakes, there was a lack of openness from the Trust in acknowledging to families what had happened.

This report vindicates these families.

“For these reasons, on behalf of the Trust, I apologise unreservedly to the families concerned. I’m deeply sorry that so many people have suffered as a result of these mistakes. As the Chair of the Trust Board, it’s my duty to ensure that lessons are learned and that we do everything we possibly can to make sure nothing like this happens again.”

The Trust welcomes the publication of the Morecambe Bay Investigation report, accepts and acknowledges the criticisms and accepts its recommendations without reservation.

Towards the end of the period covered by this report - as a consequence of the problems in maternity and neonatal services - the whole Trust board changed and the Secretary of State for Health commissioned the Morecambe Bay Investigation.

The new board recognised the need for improvement in our maternity and neonatal services and the Trust has now made a number of service improvements including the following:

• We’ve made a significant investment in staffing with over 50 additional midwives and doctors.
• We’ve improved culture and team working at the Trust introducing, for
• example, multi-disciplinary ward rounds that take place four times a day on our maternity units.
• And we’ve improved patient safety by ensuring best practice and learning are shared consistently across all of our hospitals.

The Morecambe Bay Investigation report notes that concerns over clinical practice were confined to Furness General Hospital and concludes that significant progress is being made at this maternity unit.

Jackie Daniel, the Trust chief executive, said: “We welcome these comments but we must not be complacent. We will address all the recommendations in this report to ensure that we further improve the services we offer to women and families, across our hospitals.”