Oxford hospital trust ‘sorry’ for wrong stillbirth figures

Interim chief executive Simon Crowther has corrected the record after wrong data around stillbirths experienced by mums in the trust’s care was presented to Oxfordshire County Council‘s health overview and scrutiny committee in January.

A stillbirth statistic from 2022 was “mistakenly” attributed to 2023 with an updated report sent to the committee the following month.

“All data have since been thoroughly checked,” Mr Crowther said in a letter to the county council’s committee.

John Radcliffe Hospital (Image: Ed Nix)

“The trust regrets the mistake and has strengthened internal sign off processes to prevent future errors.”

He added: “We recognise and are deeply sorry for the distress this error may have caused to families and the committee.

“We acknowledge that accurate reporting is essential, and the trust acted promptly to correct the record.

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“We remain committed to ensuring the accuracy and completeness of all data shared publicly and with families.”

Oxford University Hospitals Trust has been at the centre of a scandal involving its maternity services, primarily at the John Radcliffe.

Simon Crowther, acting CEO of the hospital trust (Image: OUH)

Along with other trusts in the UK, OUH is being looked at as part of an independent review of its maternity services led by Baroness Amos.

Campaigners say this inaccuracy by the trust “normalises” the deaths under its care.

Alice Topping, who lost her baby at the John Radcliffe during labour in 2023, told the BBC: “Each baby who died, each figure, each statistic, they represent entire lifetimes lost.

“Treating them just as a statistic, it erases the immense pain and suffering.

“It represents a pattern of a normalisation of preventable deaths and a dismissal – a lack of accountability and acknowledgement. If OUH have learnt from this? We will see in the future.”

In June last year the health secretary Wes Streeting announced an independent review of maternity care to understand why “so many women and babies are receiving unacceptable levels of care”.

Wes Streeting

In Oxford, we have heard from mothers who have lost their babies in shocking circumstances.

One includes John Radcliffe patient Emma Cox whose baby was declared dead by hospital staff but was rejected by the mortuary because she was in fact still alive.

Data shows Oxford was an outlier for stillbirths in 2023, with a stillbirth rate of 3.6 per 1000 (0.36 per cent), the trust said.

This compared to a group average of 3.42 per 1000 (0.342 per cent), an absolute difference of 0.18 per 1000, or 0.018 per cent.

OUH said the data on stillbirth and perinatal mortality trends “do not suggest that Oxford is a significant outlier” nationally, but it recognises “profound significance of every perinatal death and the lasting impact on families”.