166 babies were stillborn due to negligence at London NHS trusts in the last 11 years according to new figures from a freedom of information (FOI) request. NHS trusts in Greater London had to pay out more than £8.5 million in damages to parents affected.
The worst NHS trust in London for babies being stillborn due to their negligence was Barking, Havering and Redbridge where 22 babies were stillborn between the financial years 2012/13 and 2022/23. This meant they had to pay out £986,015 in damages, the second highest of any London trust, as well as take on £120,092 in legal fees with the claimants' legal fees being £851,456.
The London trust that had to pay out the most in damages was King’s College where 17 babies were stillborn due to negligence, the fourth highest. Their damages bill stood at £1,060,015, as well as £116,238 in legal fees while the claimants' fees were £1,263,948.
READ MORE: Woman in her 50s dies in hospital months after lorry crash injures two pedestrians
Natalizia Capizzi, medical negligence legal director at Lime Solicitors, said: “The data shows that more than one baby in England is at risk of being stillborn due to negligence each week. Failures in care are being repeated because lessons are not learned. There must be change and there has to be candour when mistakes are made.
“Not all stillbirths are preventable. Some can be caused as a result of complications with the placenta, diabetes, high blood pressure, infection or lack of oxygen to the baby. Negligence occurs when medical professionals fail in providing an acceptable standard of care for their patients, such as mothers not being monitored appropriately during their pregnancy, a pre-existing history of diabetes or high blood pressure not being properly monitored, or failing to diagnose and treat an infection.”
The data from Lime Solicitors' FOI request was shared in full with MyLondon. It reveals that on average £51,351 were paid out per case:
Greater London | Claims | Damages (£) | NHS legal (£) | Claimant legal (£) | ||
North Middlesex | 8 | 558,684 | 65,777 | 362,520 | ||
Royal Free London | 7 | 543,115 | 82,646 | 596,187 | ||
University College London | 9 | 687,500 | 68,017 | 482,467 | ||
Barking, Havering and Redbridge | 22 | 986,015 | 120,092 | 851,456 | ||
Barts Health | 20 | 724,000 | 80,185 | 883,317 | ||
Homerton University | 8 | 383,000 | 101,070 | 631,829 | ||
Chelsea and Westminster | 10 | 389,239 | 119,618 | 617,010 | ||
Imperial College | 9 | 515,178 | 82,443 | 417,450 | ||
London North West | 11 | 428,005 | 41,209 | 315,642 | ||
Hillingdon Hospitals | 6 | 197,500 | 94,721 | 262,669 | ||
Guy’s and St Thomas’ | 9 | 554,558 | 35,863 | 374,165 | ||
King’s College | 17 | 1,060,015 | 116,238 | 1,263,948 | ||
Lewisham and Greenwich | 18 | 776,105 | 118,598 | 1,042,534 | ||
Croydon Health | 5 | 385,816 | 54,229 | 339,879 | ||
St George’s University | 7 | 335,500 | 58,099 | 347,702 | 51,350.78 | Average cost per case (£) |
Total | 166 | 8,524,230.00 | 1,238,805.00 | 8,788,775.00 | 10,027,580.00 | Total legal fees (£) |
How bad is it across the UK?
According to babies charity Tommy’s, Nationally, around 2,680 babies are born deceased each year – 85 of which are due to negligence, according to the latest figures. This means that more than one baby a week is lost to negligence on average and NHS failings in relation to stillbirths have cost taxpayers an average of £8.4 million a year since 2012.
Solicitor Fernanda Simionato-Ayling added: “Our NHS is fantastic. While the first duty of a healthcare system is to do no harm, sometimes things do go wrong and care falls below medical standards. Medical negligence claims play a critical role in safeguarding patients against negligent treatment. In all my cases, clients are predominantly seeking to establish the truth, an apology and to ensure healthcare professionals learn from their own tragic experiences to prevent making the same mistakes in the future.
“Suffering a stillbirth is extremely traumatic and while no amount of compensation can change the pain negligence causes, one of the key reasons parents decide to make a claim is to ensure they do not suffer financially."
What have the trusts said?
Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS Trust has responded to the damning data. Kathryn Halford, Chief Nurse, said: “We thoroughly investigate all stillbirths and make improvements if we identify our care contributed in any way. We are very sorry these families were not given the level of care they deserved.”
A spokesperson added that the Trust's maternity unit is one of the busiest in London, delivering around 7,400 babies every year. In 2023/24 they met all 10 safety actions under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, which handles claims against NHS bodies and reviewed whether themes emerged between incidences.
This included adding additional clinical posts to wards, improvements to the booking system, and working with the Maternity Voices Partnership to reduce health inequalities with bilingual and culturally sensitive support.
King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust also responded to the criticism. A spokesperson said: "King’s is a centre for high-risk pregnancies, which means we treat and care for a higher proportion of women who experience complications to their own health, or the health of their baby during pregnancy. Our stillbirth rate is around average when compared to other Trusts treating a similar cohort of patients.
"The cases in this report represent a very small percentage of the approximately 8,000 babies born at the Trust each year. However, in those cases where mistakes happen, we are deeply sorry for the families affected, and undertake detailed reviews of each case to ensure lessons are learned to minimise the chances of them happening again."
Get the biggest stories from around London straight to your inbox. Sign up to MyLondon's The 12 HERE for the 12 biggest stories each day.
(Feed generated with FetchRSS)