Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust’s £1.6m fine will never bring back the babies who died after failings in maternity care – but means their voices have been firmly heard – a family has said.
Adele O’Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson, and Quinn Parker, all died at Nottingham City Hospital within the space of four months in 2021.
Healthcare regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) brought charges against Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, for failing to provide safe care and treatment to the three babies and their mothers.
The trust had already pleaded guilty in an earlier hearing on Monday to six charges relating to the failure to provide safe maternity care and treatment resulting in a significant risk of avoidable harm and, in one case, actual avoidable harm, to the mothers and their babies.
Sentencing the trust at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (February 12), District Judge Grace Leong handed it a £1.6m fine.
She expressed her “deepest sympathy” to the families and said: “There were serious failings in the care provided by the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust through its maternity unit where the failures were avoidable, and where they should not have happened.
“Daniela and David O’Sullivan, Ellise Rawson and her mother Amy Rawson, and Emma Studencki and Ryan Parker, placed their trust in a system that was meant to protect expectant mothers and keep their babies safe and that trust was broken.”
Adele O’Sullivan was born and died at Nottingham City Hospital on April 7, 2021, having been born prematurely at 29 weeks, while Kahlani Rawson died aged just four days on June 15, 2021, and baby Quinn Parker died 36 hours after being born on July 16.
Natalie Cosgrove, a solicitor who has been representing the family of baby Quinn, read out a statement outside court following sentencing.
“Today means many things, but of all it means Quinn did not live only to die,” she said.
“He lived and died to help others. He has already achieved so much. This is the only system that exists to obtain some form of accountability, but it is clearly imperfect and needs reform.
“It does not bring back Quinn, but although he never spoke he has a voice and it has firmly been heard.
“Quinn died from a long list of failings and Emmie’s life was also put at risk. Failings so basic a passing stranger on the street would have provided a better quality of care.”
Solicitor Sadie Simpson, reading a statement on behalf of the families of Kahlani and Adele, added: “Whilst it is accepted some changes have been made, for years families and staff have raised alarm bells about the quality of care at NUH and tragically the consequences have been devastating.
“These prosecutions reinforce the urgent need for meaningful and lasting improvements and the time to act is now. It is our hope the trust and Government will implement real changes.”
District Judge Leong said the fine had been reduced from £5.5m, taking into account the trust’s guilty pleas and its financial position.
NUH is facing a £100m budget deficit and is expecting to have to make £95m in cuts to services.
She said she was “acutely aware” a fine would impact the trust’s ability to deliver services and make improvements.
The trust was fined £700,000 relating to Quinn’s care, and £300,000 each for babies Kahlani and Adele.
It was then fined an extra £100,000 for each of the three mothers for failures relating to their care, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £190 and prosecution costs of £67,755.23.
Following the hearing, NUH chief executive Anthony May, said: “The mothers and families of these babies have had to endure things that no family should after the care provided by our hospitals failed them, and for that I am truly sorry.
“These families have shown incredible strength during this time, and I can only imagine how painful it must have been for them to share their experiences again.
“Listening to them in court was moving and provided further incentive for us to continue to improve our services.
“Today’s judgment is against the Trust, and I also apologise to staff who we let down when it came to providing the right environment and processes to enable them to do their jobs safely.
“The changes that we have made mean that we are working in a different environment than 2021 and we believe that we now have a safer and more effective maternity service.”
• Nottingham Hospitals fined £1.6m for failing to care for three babies and their mothers
• NUH Chief Exec statement: ‘Truly sorry’ after Trust fined £1.6m over baby deaths
