Kent hospital trust apologises to mother after her baby dies

Read More

A Kent hospital trust has apologised to a mother who was wrongly told her baby had died and then that she was alive, before her daughter died hours later.

After experiencing labour pains last February, Alisha Pegg attended William Harvey hospital in Ashford. After being sent home by doctors, she gave birth to her daughter Grace.

Grace was born at 22 weeks premature, and Pegg said the hospital staff had “neglected” her.

The day before the birth, Pegg went to the hospital as she was experiencing pains and cramps. She said medical staff told her there was no movement of the baby, but there was a heartbeat.

“In my head I was thinking my daughter is OK, she has a heartbeat. I told them I’m in labour and I felt I needed to push, but the doctor said go home,” Pegg told the BBC.

She returned to hospital less than 24 hours later by ambulance and was told Grace had died. However, just minutes later, she was told the baby was actually alive. Four hours after that, Grace died in her mother’s arms.

Pegg added: “I feel neglected, they neglected Grace.

“In all their reviews they say they did try to tube her, but she was showing no signs of life. Yet she survived four hours by herself.

“I want answers as to why I was not listened to when I persistently told them what my body was doing. I want an apology.”

Rebecca Martin, the chief medical officer at the trust, said: “We are truly sorry that we didn’t provide the standard of care and support needed.

“We have changed our practices and policies following Grace’s sad death, including introducing further monitoring for those at risk of preterm labour.

“We will continue to ensure we provide ongoing support to answer all the family’s questions.”

The death of Grace comes during an inquiry into maternity services at East Kent Hospitals, which is expected to be published later this year.

It is looking at up to 200 incidents involving mothers and babies and is expected to be damning.

The East Kent hospitals trust apologised to Pegg for failing to “provide the standard of care and support” needed.

The incident follows the Shropshire maternity scandal, in which a five-year investigation concluded that more than 200 babies could have survived if they were provided with better care.

The inquiry looked at the experiences of 1,500 families at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust between 2000 and 2019, and found that at least 12 mothers had died whole giving birth, and some families lost multiple children in separate incidents at the NHS trust.

Grieving families were denied access to reviews of their care and mothers were blamed when their babies died or suffered horrific injuries. A total of 201 babies and nine mothers could, or would, have survived if the NHS trust had provided better care, the inquiry found.