Maternity patients in Cumbria made to feel like burden, says report

An NHS trust’s maternity wards made patients “feel like a burden on the service” and “frightened and uncertain”, an investigation has found.

The findings at The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) are part of the wider National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation.

The trust runs two sites in Cumbria, Furness General Hospital and Westmorland General Hospital, as well as the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

Chief executive of the trust Steve Williamson said: “While we have made significant changes and improvements in recent years, that does not lessen the impact on those involved – we will never forget that.”

The independent investigation was commissioned last June, with 323 families affected by bereavement or harm attending evidence panels and site visits conducted at 12 NHS trusts.

In its final report published today, investigation chair Baroness Valerie Amos said: “There is absolutely no justification for the tragic cases of unsafe care and avoidable harm we continue to see in England.

“Nor is it acceptable that so many women and families experience a poor response and lack of accountability when something has gone wrong.”

Eleven babies and one mother died at Furness General Hospital in Barrow between 2004 and 2013.

This prompted a highly critical government-backed report in 2015, which said a “lethal mix” of failures led to a number of deaths.