Canterbury mum’s pleas over East Kent Hospital stillbirth failings

A mum whose baby died during pregnancy has said the number of stillbirths occurring under the watch of one NHS Trust “has to stop”.

Georgia Blinston Jones, from Canterbury, claims she experienced a number of mistakes in the care she received prior to losing her unborn son Rowan at 39 weeks, which left her feeling suicidal.

On Wednesday, East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust apologised for “failing families” after an independent review found eight babies, stillborn at its hospitals between June 2025 and March 2026, might have survived with better care.

Blinston Jones said while the findings “can’t change what’s happened with Rowan”, she hopes it “will make a difference for other expectant mothers”.

Documents for a trust board meeting on Thursday revealed the review had found “recurrent and systemic weaknesses in the management of high-risk pregnancy, foetal surveillance, maternity triage, escalation and organisational learning”.

In addition, since the review a further four full-term stillbirths have occurred between April and July 2026, with three more in August this year alone.

All the stillbirths occurred after 34 weeks gestation and another investigation into those subsequent deaths has been ordered.

“I dread finding out that Rowan was one of those babies that could have survived,” said Blinston Jones, 33, whose experiences will go to form part of that next review.

However, she added that prior to the BBC’s reporting on the matter this week her family had not known about either review, for which the trust has also apologised.