Helen calls for baby loss action in special debate

Shropshire MP Helen Morgan urged the Government to act to reduce the number of baby deaths as she led a Parliamentary debate to mark Baby Loss Awareness Week.

The MP for North Shropshire highlighted the “horrific experiences of women at their most vulnerable” and praised the campaigning of her constituents Kayleigh and Colin Griffiths as the debate was held 18 months after the release of the Ockenden report.

Kayleigh and Colin’s daughter Pippa, who died just one day after being born, was among 201 babies that the Ockenden review found could have survived had better care been provided in Shropshire.

Helen is supporting Kayleigh and Colin, and fellow campaigners Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton, in calling for a national inquiry into maternity services to prevent scandals like Shropshire’s from being repeated.

Helen shared the emotional words of another North Shropshire mother, who said: “My son was born 10 days overdue on 7th August 2007 in Shrewsbury hospital. Unfortunately, due to gross negligence by the trust that day I left their hospital with empty arms and a broken heart.”

Helen Morgan, North Shropshire MP, said, “I am pleased that improvements have been made in Shropshire but it is clear that much more needs to be done to improve maternity care up and down the country.

“Too many families have suffered losses that could have been avoided. The Government must listen to their voices and invest to make sure that staffing levels are safe.

“So far it has been bereaved parents who have led the campaign for improving maternity care. It should not be down to them. Proper staffing levels and proper procedures must be put in place to stop scandals like Shropshire’s from ever happening again.”

While progress has been made in Shropshire since the Ockenden review, the Government is not on track to meet its target of halving stillbirths, maternal deaths, neonatal deaths and serious brain injury form their 2010 levels by 2025.

Donna Ockenden, who led the inquiry into maternity care in Shropshire, is now reviewing issues in Nottingham which are likely to be of an even greater scale than those at Shrewsbury and Telford. Similar issues were also found in East Kent.

Helen told the Commons that it is “obvious that staffing remains the single most important issue for maternity services,” with two thirds of midwives reporting feeling ill due to stress in a recent survey.

The MP, who is the co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Baby Loss, noted that the cost of harm from clinical negligence caused by NHS maternity services was £8.2 billion in 2021-22 which is double what the health service spends on maternity care.

Helen also contributed to a debate on birth trauma where she shared her own powerful story of giving birth.