Families' hope after maternity inquiry meeting

Parents whose babies died or suffered harm at maternity units in Leeds have had their first chance to tell the chair of an independent inquiry about their experiences.

The families, who gathered for a meeting in the city earlier led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, said they felt "empowered" and were hopeful lasting improvements could be made.

The meeting marks the start of a formal investigation into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. It will look at maternity care over a 15-year period and potentially examine up to 3,000 cases.

The trust previously said it was already "taking significant steps to address improvements".

It comes after a BBC investigation found the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the last five years at the trust may have been prevented.

An inquiry into the trust was announced by then-health secretary Wes Streeting last year.

The meeting at the Park Plaza Hotel earlier offered people a chance to learn about the stages of the review, how they can take part and give evidence.

Ockenden, who recently led a similar inquiry into failings in Nottingham, said it was the first of many meetings.

She paid tribute to the courage of the families, their persistence and determination, adding: "It's a privilege to be trusted by so many families, we work really hard to win that trust.

"It is the families who deserve every possible accolade."

She also encouraged current and former staff at the trust to come forward and share their experiences of working on the ground.

Lauren Caulfield said she had been campaigning for years and described how she felt "much more hopeful" after Saturday's "surreal" meeting.

"To see us finally reach this point, it's just incredible and I feel empowered, finally," she said.

"I feel like we're able to make a difference, we're able to make things better and that's all we want, is to just make things better for the next family so their child doesn't die, so their mother doesn't die."

Lauren's daughter, Grace, was stillborn in 2022.

"Ultimately, she shouldn't have died, we shouldn't be in this position, but I promised her that people wouldn't forget her, that her name would matter, and it's the most beautiful thing as a mum to be able to be fulfilling that promise," she added.

Amarjit Kaur Matharoo, whose daughter, Asees, was stillborn on 6 January 2024, said it had been a long fight for many families.

"We've had to go all the way to the top, to Number 10, to be able to get to a point where we've got an inquiry and we've got the chair that we wanted, who will really implement change on the ground from day one, whilst also retrospectively looking at all the cases and all of what we've been through and all our experiences," she said.

Matharoo said joining the campaign to make maternity services safer was her way of honouring her daughter.

"This is how we make sure that there's not another Asees out there and if anything, it's making sure people aren't left with empty arms or with empty beds next to them because their [babies] have passed away," she said.

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