Criticised Morecambe Bay NHS trust claimed £2m for ‘good care’ provision

An NHS belief criticised over the avoidable dying of a new child child was paid £2m for offering good maternity care, the BBC can reveal.

A senior coroner dominated on Friday that College Hospitals of Morecambe Bay (UHMB) NHS belief contributed to Ida Lock’s dying and had didn’t study classes from earlier maternity failures.

Regardless of this, the belief claimed it had met all 10 requirements below an NHS scheme aimed toward selling secure therapy.

Ida’s mom Sarah Robinson stated it was “one other kick within the tooth” whereas her father Ryan Lock labelled it “disgusting”. The belief, which has beforehand apologised for its failings in Ida’s care, declined to remark concerning the NHS fee scheme.

Senior coroner for Lancashire James Adeley concluded that Ida had died as a result of gross failure of three midwives to offer fundamental medical care.

Ida, who was born on the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) on 9 November 2019, died per week later after struggling a severe mind damage resulting from a scarcity of oxygen.

Dr Adeley dominated her dying had been attributable to the midwives’ failure to ship the toddler “urgently when it was obvious she was in misery” and contributed to by the lead midwife’s “wholly incompetent failure to offer fundamental neonatal resuscitation”.

He stated eight alternatives had been missed “to change Ida’s medical course”.

Her five-week inquest at Preston County Corridor heard that lots of the points recognized in a 2015 impartial evaluation of UHMB’s maternity companies have been nonetheless evident in November 2019.

The RLI is run by the UHMB belief.

Underneath the Maternity Incentive Scheme run by NHS Decision, the well being service’s insurance coverage arm, maternity departments in England are inspired to offer excellent care by assembly 10 security requirements, together with correctly investigating deaths and listening to folks’ issues.

Trusts which certify they’ve met these requirements obtain a rebate on their insurance coverage premiums, along with a share of cash paid by NHS trusts which don’t.

Within the 5 years that the scheme has been operating, UHMB stated it had met the ten requirements 4 occasions.

In 2018, the primary yr of the programme, the belief’s self-certification led to it being paid £1,288,241.

In 2019, the yr of Ida’s dying, it obtained £734,112 after once more claiming to have hit the entire standards.

The UHMB belief additionally claimed an ideal 10-out-of-10 document in 2020 however their submission was reviewed by NHS Decision following a crucial inspection of maternity companies by the Care High quality Fee.

The regulator’s report rated maternity companies as “insufficient”, with UHMB’s rating downgraded to a few out of 10.

Consequently, UHMB was not given any cash that yr by NHS Decision, and the belief was made to repay a lot of the quantity it had obtained in 2019.

When instructed concerning the funds scheme and the way the belief had benefitted from it, Mr Lock stated it was “disgusting”.

He stated: “It is portray a false image to allow them to obtain cash.”

A former maternity threat supervisor on the belief, Rox-Anne Hetherington, stated Morecambe Bay’s actions have been consistent with her expertise.

“I can, hand-on-heart, say that it wasn’t a case of ‘What have we finished to [make things better]?’

“It was a case of ‘What are we going to say we have finished?'”

Dr Invoice Kirkup, whose 2015 inquiry uncovered widespread failings in maternity care, together with the preventable deaths of 11 infants and a mom on the belief’s Furness Common Hospital in Cumbria, additionally stated he wasn’t stunned.

“Some trusts put a number of effort into how they’ll current one of the best image of themselves, and far much less effort into whether or not they’re really making enhancements beneath,” he stated.

UHMB’s claims are in step with different struggling trusts which have additionally made comparable faulty submissions below the Maternity Incentive Scheme.

The Shrewsbury and Telford NHS belief was compelled to repay nearly £1m after it equally claimed to have met the entire security requirements.

A evaluation of its maternity care, printed in 2022, discovered greater than 200 infants and moms might have survived with correct care.

The East Kent College Hospitals belief, the place an inquiry discovered at the least 45 infants might have survived, was additionally compelled to repay £2m after falsely claiming it had met the protection standards.

In an announcement, NHS Decision stated “College Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS belief initially self-reported full compliance with the Maternity Incentive Scheme in years 1, 2, 3 and 5.

“Nevertheless subsequent NHS Decision critiques of the Belief’s proof for years 2 and three following the publication of their CQC report demonstrated that they weren’t totally compliant for these years.

“The Belief was required to repay any funds for these years. The beforehand granted rebate was returned to NHS Decision and was redistributed to all compliant Trusts.”

The UHMB, which has beforehand apologised for its failings in Ida Lock’s dying, declined to remark about its participation within the Maternity Incentive Scheme.