University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust continues to face public scrutiny following recent press reports revealing a significant number of maternity clinical negligence claims filed against the Trust. These claims, relating to incidents that occurred several years prior, were settled over a five-year period from 2019 to 2023, to help families whose babies’ lives were catastrophically changed or cut short by preventable medical mistakes.
The claims were made against all maternity under the Trust which are Worthing Hospital, St Richard’s Hospital, Princess Royal Hospital and The Royal Sussex Hospital.
Are lessons being learnt from maternity negligence cases?
Even though the majority of these claims relate to events that took place many years before they were settled, sadly it looks like lessons have not been learnt by the Trust, whose maternity units remain rated as either inadequate (Royal Sussex Hospital) or requiring improvement.
The Royal Sussex is also currently under the spotlight due to the ongoing police investigation into 40 deaths and over 65 allegations of serious harm caused by gross medical negligence within the hospital’s general surgery and neurosurgery departments. The scope of the investigation is to establish whether the outcomes were linked to criminal medical negligence going above and beyond what we would normally see in civil proceedings.
Kym Provan said:
“When people have to go into hospital, they are already vulnerable and are completely dependent upon the skill and care of the medical professionals that treat and look after them. Never is this more so than when women attend hospital for the delivery of their baby. It is so important that patients and their families have trust in the medical profession, and in the fact that lessons will have been learned from past mistakes, and steps taken to ensure that the same mistake does not happen again. Unfortunately, this is not always the case as evidenced by these recent press reports. Over the course of my career, I have had the misfortune to see the same types of mistakes or errors of judgement being made over and over again, resulting in avoidable harm and heartbreak”.
How we can help affected families
We have a dedicated team of clinical negligence lawyers based throughout the South East coast and led by Kym Provan, Partner in our Southampton office. The team has helped hundreds of families use civil proceedings to get answers about what happened to their loved ones, and where appropriate get access to compensation to help them deal with the repercussions of medical mistakes. The team has a number of nationally recognised lawyers including partner John White, who prior to qualifying as a solicitor, pursued a medical career.
If you or someone you care for have concerns about the care you received and want to get answers, we can help you. To speak to a member of our team call us today on 0800 044 8488 or fill in our contact form so we can call you back at a time convenient for you.