Ockenden Report

You may have seen across the media the outcome of Donna Ockenden’s independent review of the findings, conclusions and actions from the independent review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. The report provides vital insight: not only for maternity services but health and social care in general.

We have reviewed the report and we are committed to compassionate, high-quality maternity care for all mothers and their families. Our maternity colleagues are committed to listening, hearing, and responding to your feedback and are always keen to improve.

At Chesterfield Royal Hospital FT, we continually appraise the exceptional maternity care we provide and review women’s and family experiences regularly.  We are actively undertaking a dedicated maternity transformation programme to ensure that we continue to learn and continue to improve.

The first “Ockenden” report published in December 2020, highlighted the importance of making families’ voices central to how we provide maternity services. Our latest CQC maternity patient survey was above average which is a testament to the care and compassion of all our staff in maternity services.

We are committed to listening to women and their families, and involving them in the way we design, develop and improve services. We put families at the heart of complaints and investigations so we can listen, learn and provide the safe service we are proud of.

The final “Ockenden” report provides further areas of learning that we regard as critical to ensuring the safety of our maternity services.  We will continue to ensure women, their families and staff voices are at the heart of what we do.

We want all women and their families to have a positive experience of pregnancy, birth, and aftercare with our maternity teams. If you or anyone you know is concerned or feels impacted by the current news, please feel free to speak directly with your midwife in the first instance, or you can contact our Interim Director of Midwifery, Dotty Watkins OBE.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS FT is embedding the recommendations and actions from both parts of the Ockenden Review. The maternity transformation programme continues to be underway with further continuous improvements ongoing.