East Kent Maternity Services: Independent Investigation

Debate between Lord Markham and Lord Inglewood

Monday 24th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I agree, and if I may I would like to quote Dr Bill Kirkup in the report:

“Clinicians should not have to live in fear”


where “honest clinical errors” are made. That is exactly the point: we need to introduce a culture whereby people feel able to do that. He goes on to blame systemic failures in leadership, a point that the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, made, and which is very pertinent here. We are talking about honest mistakes. Everyone wants to do a good job and tries do a good job; it is where they feel that they cannot bring up and honestly discuss those issues that we have a systemic problem, so I agree that it begins and ends with the leadership.

[Lord Inglewood (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I know nothing about health policy, Kent or the hospitals in Kent, but our grandson was born in one of the hospitals of the east Kent trust earlier in the summer. We have heard about some of the horrifying things that have happened. There is no excuse for that, but in all hospitals and such establishments there are people who, despite the problems, are doing the real job to the best of their abilities. I should simply like to put on record our gratitude to the staff involved in the birth of our grandson.

[Lord Markham (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord. As he rightly points out, the vast majority of workers are very diligent and good at what they do, and that should rightly be recognised. At the same time, I do not think any of us here wants to sweep under the carpet the problems that clearly exist. We need to be sure that, among the fantastic work, we are ever vigilant to root out the bad.