'A maternity commissioner will focus minds'

A maternity campaigner has praised elements of an England-wide investigation into maternity care and said the proposed appointment of a maternity commissioner would "focus minds".

Rhiannon Davies, who campaigned for a review into maternity failings in Shrewsbury and Telford after the avoidable death of her daughter Kate in 2009, said she believed the review would lead to change.

The review called for urgent change in the way patients were treated and said too many women were not being "listened to, heard or believed".

A key failing was an unwillingness to listen to women and families and the report recommended a national maternity and neonatal commissioner be appointed.

Asked for her opinion of the report, Davies said: "No report is ever going to be 100% perfect and no family is ever going to be 100% happy because we live with the trauma that we've been through."

Her daughter Kate died on 1 March, 2009 at just six hours old. Her mum had explained to midwives she wasn't moving as much in the days leading up to the birth, but she was told she had a "lazy baby".

When she was born at Ludlow community hospital Kate was in respiratory distress and airlifted to Birmingham Children's Hospital. Her mother collapsed and was sent to hospital in Worcester, 30 miles away. She was away from her daughter when she died.

The report made some good points and was especially strong on the need for parents to be listened to, Davies said.

"That's a fundamental shift in thinking and one I wholeheartedly welcome because that alone would have saved Kate."

Davies, who now lives in Herefordshire, also welcomed the report's advice that hospital trusts should hold their hands up when they make mistakes.

She said she recognised it was a rapid review, intended to "identify themes for the national maternity and neonatal taskforce".

But she also felt it was "mindboggling" that the review had only looked at England and not Scoland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Along with other families, she now plans to be involved in the next phase of the process, because without the families "there will be no accountability".

In its response, the government said it would appoint a new maternity commissioner, to independently hold the system to account, drive change and rebuild trust.

It also committed to producing an action plan in December and giving the health service £41m to improve safety.

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