Health: Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Monday 17th July 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I agree that parents should be involved in such reviews—as those who are ultimately most affected by these tragedies, they absolutely should be involved. It is fair to reflect that issues around maternity deaths, brain injuries and so on have been going on for a very long time, and in certain trusts there have been acute instances of tragedy. That is why, as I said, the Secretary of State is determined to halve the number of deaths and incidents. We have had a number of reports, not only the one we are discussing today but also that of my noble friend Lady Cumberlege, Better Births, in an attempt to improve the way that services are delivered.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)]

My Lords, I want to follow on from the question about reviews. The royal college that looked at the way in which the local reviews were undertaken found wide inconsistencies between different hospitals. Not only did a majority of reviews not involve parents at all, but my understanding is that, in its initial report, it found that only 9% of the reviews involved external experts. I know that the Government are very reluctant to intervene, but surely it would be possible to issue very straight guidance to the NHS to say how reviews should be undertaken and that in all circumstances both parents and external reviewers should be involved. Will the Minister give that some consideration?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I shall certainly give that consideration. There may be specific reasons why, in particular instances, that might not be possible or even desirable, but I shall certainly look into it. Take one of the instances: the tragedies at Morecambe Bay. It was found that there was a lack of objectivity in investigations and that that—along with other problems such as a lack of good data—led to the kinds of tragedies we saw, not happening once but over and over again. I completely take the noble Lord’s point, and I will look into it.