Families hit out at ‘exceptionally weak’ government response to baby deaths inquiry 

Bereaved families have criticised a long-awaited government response to an inquiry into maternity care in East Kent.

The written ministerial statement has been branded “exceptionally weak” and “hugely disappointing”, by some affected family members.

The initial government response was issued this morning, more than four months after Dr Bill Kirkup published the findings of his independent investigation. 

It found at least 45 babies could have survived if they had received care in line with national standards at NHS hospitals in East Kent over more than a decade. 

Commenting on today's initial Government response Bill Kirkup said it did not go far enough. "If maternity services are to improve the changes needed to be wider and deeper.

• Dr Bill Kirkup

"Our Report, Reading the Signals, identified fundamental issues applying across the country not simply in East Kent.

"I gave a commitment to families that I would not go away and would press for those fundamental issues to be grasped. On today's evidence there is no basis for me going away."

Referring to the Government' promise to provide a fuller response in " the Spring", Bill Kirkup added: "I hope that it then comes forward with the changes necessary and deserved by families in East Kent and elsewhere."

The families involved hoped today's initial response from government would force a shake-up of east Kent maternity services, improve accountability, and transparency - and that it might signal major new investment in the hospitals involved.

But those who lost babies have attacked the report as flimsy, weak, and toothless.

Helen Gittos lost her newborn daughter Harriet at the Queen Mother Hospital at Margate nine years ago. She said today's report is 'an insult'

• Helen Gittos

In response, Health Minister Maria Caulfield MP said: “I would like to place on the record my gratitude to the families who came forward to contribute to this review, and to express my deepest sympathies for the loss and harm that Dr Kirkup discovered in the maternity and neonatal services at East Kent.”

In the brief 500-word statement, Ms Caulfield explains how the government has responded to the five recommendations of the Kirkup report. 

Work to establish a maternity and neonatal task force is said to be “underway”. A report “will be commissioned” into how compassionate care can be embedded into maternity training. Another report “will be commissioned” into how “the oversight and direction of clinicians can be improved”. 

Ministers have also committed to working with NHS England and the Care Quality Commission regarding ongoing "patient safety concerns" at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.

Speaking anonymously to ITV News Meridian, one bereaved family member said: “The government response seems exceptionally weak and generic, with no measurable actions. It is hugely disappointing.” 

Last month, the health watchdog imposed a raft of urgent conditions on maternity services at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) in Margate, following an unannounced inspection.

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