Specialist maternity experts and medical negligence solicitors at Switalskis say a damning report into the care of babies and families at Nottingham University Hospitals’ (NUH) NHS Trust is a clarion call for urgent action to improve services to prevent future harm.

Georgina Peckett , a Director and specialist in maternity negligence cases who, along with the expert medical negligence team at Switalskis, is supporting dozens of families affected by failings at the Trust’s two maternity units, also praised the determination of families who have campaigned for the Trust to be held to account.

Among those families are Gary and Sarah Andrews, who have been among the leading campaigners and have featured heavily in media coverage in the build-up to the report from Donna Ockenden, including appearing on the BBC’s Panorama to share their story and demand change.

What did the Ockenden Report say?

Announcing the findings of her review, Donna Ockednen, the inquiry’s Chair, said: “This is a report about how a system failed and what it costs when it fails. It cost lives, futures and families, everything.”

Paying tribute to the families who campaigned for answers, she added: "This review owes its very existence to a group of families who refused to be silenced - they came together in harm and in grief - united in their determination that what had happened to them should not happen to anyone else.

"Without these families, Nottingham may still be experiencing these tragedies."

The report found that:

• Hundreds of mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or died due to "longstanding and deeply embedded systemic failures" at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
• Leaders at the Trust had known there were serious issues in its maternity department going back to "at least 2010" – but failed to take action to prevent more deaths.
• There were "potentially avoidable" outcomes relating to 444 maternity cases examined up to May 2025, as well as 76 neonatal cases.
• These cases were graded as two or three with regards to the harm caused
• Grade three represents "significant concerns" and "major concerns" over care where different management would reasonably be expected to have made a difference to the outcome.
• Grade two reflects sub-optimal care, classed as harm where different management might have made a difference to the outcome.

About 2,500 families and more than 800 members of staff contributed to the report, which comes after the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history.

‘A litany of failures’ – A Switalskis maternity expert’s view

Switalskis’ Georgina Peckett said: “This report is a testament to the determination of Gary and Sarah and many other families to hold the Trust to account.

“A litany of failures has left so many families heartbroken, facing a life without the child they dreamt of or living with a seriously injured child – all caused by avoidable harm and serious systemic weaknesses.

“Too many mothers, babies and families, many of whom we are now supporting, have suffered indescribable heartache, and the government and Trust must now act on the recommendations immediately. Until they do, more families will suffer, and that would be an even greater scandal than the one Donna Ockenden’s report has laid bare today.”

Sarah and Gary’s story

At their wedding in 2019, Sarah and Gary Andrews announced that they would be having a baby girl, who they named Wynter. However, the couple suffered tragedy later that same year. Failures in the maternity unit at the Queens Medical Centre (QMC) in Nottingham, one of two maternity units operated by the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, led to Wynter’s death.

Just two weeks before Wynter’s birth, Sarah experienced continuous contractions over a six-day period. However, staff at the Queens Medical Centre repeatedly told her to stay at home.

When Sarah and Gary were finally admitted to the Queens Medical Centre unit, they were left on their own for long periods of time. It was 24 hours before staff began CTG monitoring to track Wynter’s heart rate, and only then were concerns raised.

Wynter was born but staff then had to work to keep her alive, a fight they would lose. Tragically, Sarah and Gary’s daughter died just 23 minutes after her birth.

The couple were then moved to a bereavement suite where a doctor told them that their daughter’s death had been a tragic accident.

However, a subsequent inquest into Wynter’s death revealed multiple failures in her care and ruled that the death had been preventable.

Since Wynter’s death, Sarah and Gary, who are being supported in their case against the Trust by maternity experts in Switalskis’ medical negligence team, have been among the most prominent campaigners for improvements in care at the Trust.

Both have been unable  to return to work  because of the tragedy and they have continued their fight to get answers as to why Wynter and so many other babies died.

Many more families affected – how we can support you

Sarah and Gary are one of a significant number of families who are being supported by Switalskis’ medical negligence team after experiencing harm or bereavement at the maternity units run by Nottingham University Hospitals Trust. One of the UK’s busiest and largest teaching Trusts, it operates maternity services at City Hospital in Nottingham as well as the Queen’s Medical Centre.

The inquiry into the Trust is the largest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS and involves the care of as many as 2,500 families between 2012 and 2025. Incidents include stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths, and injured babies and mothers.

Switalskis is also supporting dozens of other families affected by poor care at a number of other Trusts being examined by the National Maternity and Neonatal Review led by Baroness Amos, as well as at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which is to be the subject of a separate inquiry led by Donna Ockenden.

For families affected by maternity negligence, at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust or other Trusts around the country, finding out what went wrong and obtaining answers is an important step, ensuring lessons are learned.

Switalskis' specialist medical negligence solicitors have extensive eperience in supporting families through complex maternity claims and investigations with compassion, sensitivity and expertise.

We are frequently instructed in cases where families have been told that no further action is possible. By carefully reviewing evidence and identifying opportunities others may have overlooked, we restore a sense of direction and possibility at a time when families often feel they have exhausted all options.

For compassionate advice from our experienced medical negligence team , contact us today. Call 0808 303 0044  or email help@switalskis.com  .