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Couple 'devastated' to see repeated failings in maternity care more than 30 years on
Watch Nancy Cole's exclusive report as a couple who lost their baby in hospital more than 30 years ago, share their pain over maternity care failings that are still happening now
A couple whose baby daughter died over 30 years ago at the Nottingham hospital trust under investigation for its maternity care said they are devastated to see the failings when she died, are still happening now.
Marie and Brian Kelly’s daughter Laura was born at Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham on the 23rd November 1991.
Marie, who at the time was a 21-year-old first time mum, recalls being ignored by staff despite being in “agony” because her “waters had gone.”
“The midwife said I’d just wet the bed," Marie said, “Another lady came along, an auxiliary, she knew it was my waters but she couldn’t go above the midwife.”
Eventually, she said: “The midwife came in with a wheelchair but I couldn’t sit down.
"Obviously it was Laura’s head but I didn’t know that. I was saying I couldn’t sit down and she was just ramming me through doors and down corridors, saying “you sit down.
"But I couldn’t sit down because there was something there and obviously it was, Laura was ready to be born.”
Laura was rushed to the neonatal unit at City Hospital in Nottingham because she had difficulty breathing. She died the day after she was born.
“A doctor came up, sat on my bed and held my hand and said there have been massive mistakes made and we will be looking into it. “ Marie said.
“They knew what they had done. If Laura had been born when she was ready to be born she’d be here today, that’s the sad thing about it.”
Last year, the couple met with many of the families involved in the Nottingham Ockenden review.
"It's the same old thing, paperwork changed, paperwork missing"
Brian has been devastated to see so many similarities in failings in his wife and daughter’s care, to more recent experiences.
”Not being looked after, badly treated, no plugs on monitors in rooms, nothing has changed.” Brian said before adding: “It’s the same old thing. Paperwork changed, paperwork missing, notes rubbed out.”
To add to the family’s trauma, ten years after Laura died the couple were told, despite not agreeing to it, that Laura’s organs had been taken without consent.
In 2000, 40 families were contacted by Nottingham University Hospitals Trust where body parts were taken without consent.
More than a thousand families in Nottinghamshire are thought to have been affected by what was known as the organ scandal, involving hospitals nationally.
Though the Kelly family’s experience is outside the dates of the terms of reference of the ongoing maternity review, due to the review team’s intervention Nottingham University Hospitals Trust has committed to undertake an external independent clinical review. It's unclear how long that might take.
In a statement Tracy Pilcher, Chief Nurse at NUH said: "I would like to offer my sincere apologies to Marie and Brian Kelly for the care they and their daughter, Laura, received in 1991, and for the additional distress caused to them in relation to their experiences following her death.
“We are committed to hearing from and listening to those individuals who have concerns about their care in our maternity services, and that includes those whose cases do not fit into the scope of the Independent Maternity Review.
"We will review Laura and Marie’s care, and we will update the family with the outcome of that review.
"We are working hard to improve our maternity services and have a maternity improvement programme that looks at every area of the service we provide.
"We know there is more to do, but listening to these women will help us learn from the past and help us to foster a culture in which staff can continue that improvement journey."
Marie and Brian are hopeful to finally get answers, saying: “We’ve waited 33 years for this.”
"Things need to be said.” Brian said before adding: “They’ve got to start looking at the past.
"We’ve got to open these doors and find out the truth, why is it still happening?”
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