East Kent: Maternity scandal trust still had higher-than-average deaths last year, report says

He added: “But the number of babies born alive and subsequently dying in 2019 would put EKHUFT above the average.” He said Imperial College London’s Neonatal Research Group had agreed to carry out a review of mortality for the trust.

Concerns about the safety of maternity care at the trust’s Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, Hospital in Thanet prompted a review by the RCOG in 2016 which found a group of consultants who repeatedly refused to work evenings and weekends were leaving less experienced staff on their own. It also highlighted a poor safety culture with staff unwilling to raise concerns.

These failings were repeated in the case of Harry Richford more than a year later. An inquest into his death in January this year ruled he died as a result of neglect.