The author of a report into the care of women and babies at an NHS trust has said things should be done differently ahead of its publication.
Dr Bill Kirkup, who chaired an expert panel on the East Kent University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust study, said he “didn’t imagine” he would be dealing with similar circumstances again following his research in Morecambe Bay in 2015.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “When I reported on Morecambe Bay maternity services in 2015, I never imagined for a moment that I would be back in seven years’ time talking about quite a similar set of circumstances and that there would In addition, there have been two other major high-profile maturity failures.
“This can’t go on. We have to approach this in a different way. We can’t just respond to each one as if it’s a one-time thing, as if this is the last time this will happen. We have to do things in one go other way”.
Mr Kirkup said a panel of experts investigating maternity care at the East Kent University Hospitals NHS foundation trust had heard “heartbreaking accounts” from families during their work.
He told the Today programme: “We have heard from many families, many horrifying accounts. I’ll put all of this later for families first and then for everyone, but there were a lot of common factors.
“My heart goes out to everyone that this has happened to.”
Asked about some families receiving care without compassion, he said: “I will set that out in some detail in the recommendations … what I would say at the moment is that I understand that people are working under pressure, [but] this does not excuse or explain being rude or aggressive. That’s a different set of problems.”
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Kirkup will issue his report to the families involved before publishing it.