Heartbreak and hurt over Harriet’s death

Last week it emerged that 1,700 cases will be examined as part of an independent review into failings in maternity care in Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

One of these is the death of baby Harriet Hawkins. Harriet’s mum Sarah (née Perry) is originally from the Dromore Road in Banbridge.

Sarah recalled the harrowing situation she found herself in.

“The day after my due date I started having contractions - those contractions lasted for six days and they were continuous,” she told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster.

“Over those six days, I made 13 contacts with the hospital for help and every time I’d ring I’d be told I wasn't in labour, my contractions weren’t three in 10. I had to stay at home and have a bath.

“It got to the point I just thought I'm going to have to do this on my own. On the 6th day I was lying on the sofa and I thought, I'm just going to have to push. Something started to come out, so the midwife told me to come in.

“I was standing at the top of the corridor, I’d had six days of contractions and I started to cry. The midwife shouted down the corridor to me, ‘is it still hanging out of you?’

“They put me into a birth sanctuary suite and examined me and they said ‘we can see the baby’s head. The baby’s about to come, you can’t have any pain relief, you just have to have a water birth’.

“They tried to get Harriet’s heartbeat but my bladder was full, so the doctor came and drained my bladder.

“Then, he scanned me and said, ‘I’m sorry, your baby’s dead…’

“We didn’t understand how we could go in with a healthy baby, and me repeatedly ask for help over a six-day period, and for her to be dead.”

Sarah and her husband Jack’s “fight” for answers began immediately.

“We were two senior clinicians at the Trust at the time,” Sarah recalled. Jack was a hospital consultant while Sarah worked as a senior physiotherapist.

“The day after we said, ‘you’ve got this wrong, you’ve messed up’... but they just didn’t listen.

“We blew the whistle very loudly repeatedly to several board members externally as well and they just said, ‘not our fault’.”

Reacting to the news that up to 1,700 cases could now be examined by the maternity services inquiry, Sarah said: “It’s heartbreaking because this is potentially all preventable… had they listened to us.

“The first walk we took Harriet on was in her tiny white coffin - it’s so heartbreaking. Why didn’t they listen?

“People need to be held to account - our lives are all destroyed, it’s utterly heartbreaking.”

An external independent investigation into Harriet’s death found 13 “significant failures” in her care and concluded that her death was “almost certainly preventable”.

At its annual public meeting last Monday, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust committed to building a new relationship of trust and transparency with the families whose lives have been affected by maternity failings.

Sarah, who is also mum to little daughter Lottie, said: “It is fantastic that they’ve promised this new relationship.

“I guess the families of Nottingham are slightly concerned because we haven't seen any action yet.

“We’re also concerned that board members who we blew the whistle to very loudly in 2017 are still present.

“It’s a really bitter sweet day. It does feel like an opportunity now - all the families in Nottingham just want maternity to be safe.

“No other family should have to go through this… it’s preventable.”

Anthony May, Chief Executive at Nottingham University Hospital’s NHS Trust, said: “I am truly sorry that we failed Mr and Mrs Hawkins and baby Harriet in 2016 and in subsequent years as we failed to listen properly to their concerns.

“We are absolutely committed to listening, learning and improving our services for women and families.”