NHS Providers responds to report on East Kent maternity services

19 October 2022

Responding to the report of the independent investigation led by Dr Bill Kirkup into maternity and neonatal services in East Kent, NHS Providers' interim chief executive, Saffron Cordery, said:

"Dr Kirkup's findings are harrowing. It is clear in the cases investigated here that women, their babies and families did not receive the safe, compassionate care they should have done.

"As Dr Kirkup notes, there have been many other recent investigations and reports into maternity services, and the parallels in each are clear.

"This sensitive, insightful report seeks a different approach to avoiding any more families facing the same devastating failures of care. Dr Kirkup's focus on behaviours as the driving factor is the right one, and we welcome his insistence on the need for honesty, openness and compassion throughout the NHS.

"We welcome too his recognition of maternity and neonatal services as being delivered as part of a wider system. Where failures are collective, reflection and improvement must also be collective.

"Some of the problems identified are more common in maternity and neonatal services, some exist in the NHS more widely particularly with regard to the need to invest in and staff the workforce appropriately. From NHS wards and boardrooms to national regulators and the government, there must be an absolute commitment to developing a safety culture throughout the NHS.

"Across the country and across its services, the NHS delivers high quality care every day and night. But as this report makes clear, this is not an experience shared consistently by everyone. It is essential that we both build on the good care within the NHS and learn from the experiences of those in this report and its predecessors.

"There must be openness and support throughout the system to listen to where there is the potential for harm, and commitment to continually learning from mistakes and building on strengths."