A bereaved mother who lost her baby after “fighting to be heard” said that change was still “desperately needed” at the hospital trust nearly five years on, as families were calling for an independent review.
Liz Charlton, from Shoreham, is part of a bereaved families group that is due to meet the Health Secretary Wes Streeting in Brighton today (Wednesday 15 April).
The group is pushing for a full investigation to be led by senior midwife and investigator Donna Ockenden into University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, and other hospitals across the county.
The 41-year-old’s baby daughter Hazel died on Wednesday 14 July 2021 after “missed opportunities” to deliver her earlier when Mrs Charlton was admitted to Worthing Hospital in severe pain and blacking out at 28 weeks pregnant.
Mrs Charlton, who previously had six miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy before her pregnancy with Hazel, told the Press Association: “I fought for my own pregnancy, advocated, to be ignored, not heard, argued with, to get to the point where I needed them the most, for them to let me down.
“In my mind, with my complex history, I should have been a high-risk case … and it never felt like my individual needs were recognised.
“We’re nearly half a decade on and there are still failings.”
She said that avoidable deaths were still happening at the trust and that “change needs to happen now”.
Mrs Charlton is calling for accountability through an opt-out independent review by Ms Ockenden.
“The only way you can have clear change is to have the most efficient, effective review done by someone that has She said: an evidence base of doing it, that knows how to do it, that’s done it well before,” she said.
“So for me, it will give me accountability and justice, I think, and overall really change for the future.
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted from the beginning, is for this to never happen to anyone else, for there to be safe maternity care for everyone.”
The clinical manager for dental practices is part of the Sussex Truth for Our Babies group calling for the review.
She said that families were still approaching the group each month because they believed their babies’ deaths were avoidable.
During her own pregnancy with Hazel, Mrs Charlton said that she found she was repeating crucial information around her medical history to new staff at appointments, including having a uterine perforation which can increase the risk of rupture in future pregnancies.
Then, on the evening of Tuesday 13 July 2021, at around 10.30pm, Mrs Charlton became unwell at home with severe pain, vomiting and blacking out.
Her husband called an ambulance which then took an hour before arriving at Worthing Hospital where she was admitted at 1.30am on Wednesday 14 July and her condition deteriorated over several hours.
She was not given pain relief, had a seizure trying to reach the toilet and was supposed to have blood taken which never happened, Mrs Charlton said.
Just after 9am, Mrs Charlton was put under general anaesthetic and despite efforts to resuscitate Hazel, she was stillborn and pronounced dead at 9.18am.
Mrs Charlton was still in surgery until midday with a uterine rupture and in a coma for a day.
She said: “I was woken up that evening. I was in ITU and I knew Hazel had gone.”
Mrs Charlton said that she and her husband Anthony were a team, who honoured Hazel in everything they did and had a memory box of her which included scan photos, handprints, a blanket knitted for her, a teddy and a clip of her hair.
She said: “Hazel was the child that we prayed to God for. She was a gift and I needed them, the trust, the most then – and they let me down.
“All our fears came true, our worst nightmares came true and we live that every day. We live what we feared the most.
“I fought fearlessly to be heard and I’m still sat here with my arms empty.”
Before the meeting with the Health Secretary in Brighton, the Sussex Truth for Our Babies group said that Mrs Charlton’s experiences showed why Sussex needed a “full and wide-reaching” independent review.
They said that she was one of more than 60 families in the region who had been affected by maternity care failings.
Thr group added: “We are now putting our faith in Wes Streeting to respond to our calls for accountability and change.”
Mrs Charlton added: “The Secretary of State should be fighting for us. We will fight until we get what we need.”
Worthing Hospital’s maternity services were upgraded by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) from “requires improvement” to “good” in February this year, while the trust said it had increased staffing levels, theatre capacity and telephone triage in recent years.
Maggie Davies, chief nurse at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The loss of a baby is an unimaginable tragedy for any parent and we offer our deepest condolences and sincere apologies to Hazel’s family.
“Everyone involved in Hazel’s care has been deeply affected by her loss and the suffering we know it has caused.
“We cannot comment further while legal proceedings are ongoing but we recognise that no settlement can ever truly compensate for the family’s distress.
“Our priority is always to provide the best care – that means listening carefully, learning and making changes so that families today get the safest care possible.”