Investigation report into Morecambe Bay published

3 Mar 2015 02:42 PM

Independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services at University Hospitals Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust published yesterday.

The Morecambe Bay Investigation was established by Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, in September 2013. It was set up in response to a series of maternal and neonatal deaths at the Trust between January 2004 and June 2013.

The report published yesterday (3 March 2015) found 20 instances of significant or major failings of care at Furness General Hospital, associated with 3 maternal deaths and the deaths of 16 babies. It concludes that different clinical care would have been expected to prevent the death of 1 mother and 11 babies.

The report describes failures at almost every level.

There are some actions that will be implemented immediately. The government will examine the other recommendations in detail before providing a full response.

Read the Morecambe Bay Investigation report

Read Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s statement to Parliament

Read the response from health system leaders (PDF, 69.4KB, 1 page)