Baby Loss

Adam Thompson Excerpts

Monday 13th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

I thank all hon. Members in this evening’s debate, particularly those who secured the debate but also the many who shared their incredibly powerful stories.

We have heard from several Members about the failures at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust to keep mothers and their babies safe. In 2019, my constituents Carl Everson and Carly Wesson were expecting their daughter Ladybird. During the pregnancy, Carl and Carly were told that Ladybird had a fatal chromosomal abnormality—trisomy 13, also known as Patau’s syndrome. They were told that she was incompatible with life and that if she survived the pregnancy she would live only briefly and in severe pain.

Faced with that devastating prognosis, Carl and Carly made the agonising decision to end their pregnancy. Two weeks after Ladybird’s funeral, they were told during an appointment that the long-term culture test showed a normal female carrier type. There was no evidence of Patau’s; Ladybird had been a healthy baby. Carl and Carly later learned that Ladybird’s death was not inevitable. It was the result of a misdiagnosis and a failure to follow national guidelines around abortion.

The Abortion Act 1967 requires two doctors to form an opinion in good faith, but Carl and Carly learned through their investigations that the second medical practitioner was, at best, used as a rubber-stamping exercise. That failure led to the loss of a very much loved and wanted child. Carl and Carly have spent six years fighting for answers—six years navigating a system that should have protected them. Today they continue their fight for answers and are working every day to ensure that guidelines around abortion are properly followed by doctors and that laws are updated if required.

The second family that I have worked closely with on this issue over the past year have been the Sissons. Sarah and Tony Sissons did not lose their son Ryan—indeed, Ryan joins us in the Gallery today—but every day they mourn for the man Ryan could have become. Ryan was born healthy, but just three days after his birth, a sequence of errors and neglect at Nottingham city hospital caused him to suffer a catastrophic brain injury. Consequently, Sarah and Tony were told that Ryan would never be able to walk or talk.

Sarah was just 19 years old, and was given no help to navigate her drastically changed life; instead, the Sissons were handed a leaflet about adoption. I understand that that leaflet is still framed on a wall in their house. Ryan told me today about how he learned to march in the sea cadets—he showed me in Westminster Hall and he was damn good at it; he did a pretty good job of walking and talking as far as I was concerned.

Last month Ryan turned 18, but he did not go out with his friends to the pub to celebrate. He is not applying to universities or doing an apprenticeship. Sarah and Tony are preparing their home so that Ryan can live with them for the rest of their lives. Sarah gave up her career to care for Ryan. She spent his childhood fighting to get that care, battling with the NHS and local authorities, attending endless appointments and mourning the big life milestones that Ryan never really got to reach.

Ryan is the oldest child being considered in the Nottingham Ockenden review. Among the nearly 2,500 families affected, Ryan is the first child. Ryan should not have been the first of thousands. The failures of Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust should have been learned long ago, but they were not. Those responsible have not yet been held accountable. Ryan should have had the chance to enjoy a happy, healthy childhood. Ladybird should be with her parents, far away from a House of Commons debate on baby loss.

Despite the efforts made today by myself and colleagues, it is not possible to put into words how the failings of the NUH trust have profoundly impacted so many lives in our community. I hope, deeply, that this Government are going to provide the justice that they deserve.

[Several hon. Members rose—]