Nottingham NHS trust fined £1.6m over ‘catalogue of failures’ that led to deaths of babies

Published

7 months ago

February 12, 2025

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An NHS trust has been fined £1.6m after admitting it failed to provide safe care and treatment to three babies who died within days of their births.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) had charged Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust over the deaths, which all occurred in 2021.

The trust pleaded guilty to six charges of failing to provide safe care and treatment to the three children and their mothers at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The charges were in connection to the deaths of Adele O’Sullivan, who was 26 minutes old when she died on 7 April 2021, four-day-old Kahlani Rawson, who died on 15 June 2021, and Quinn Parker, who was one day old when he died on 16 July 2021.

District Judge Grace Leong told the hearing, which was attended by the trust’s chief executive since September 2022 Anthony May, that the “catalogue of failures” in the trust’s maternity unit were “avoidable and should never have happened”.

Family members cried in the courtroom as the judge expressed her “deepest sympathy” to each of them and said the trust they put in NUH to deliver their babies safely had been broken.

“The death of a child is a tragedy beyond words, and where that loss is avoidable the pain is even more profound,” she said.

“Three-and-a-half years have gone by, yet for the families no doubt their grief remains as raw as ever and a constant presence in their lives that is woven into every moment.

“The grief of a baby is not just about the past, it is about the future that is stolen. It is a lifetime of missing first words, first steps, first days of school, missing memories that should have been made.

“It is very difficult, if not impossible, to move on from the failures of the trust and its maternity unit.

“The weight of what should have been done differently will linger indefinitely.”

‘Systematic failures’

District Judge Leong highlighted concerns over a lack of escalation of care, an inadequate communications system and a failure to provide “clear and complete” information sharing.

She said: “I accept there were systems in place but there were so many procedures where guidance was not followed or adhered to.

“The failures in combination amounted to systematic failures in the provision of care and treatment.”

The trust has an average turnover of £612m, but District Judge Leong said she was “acutely aware” that all its funds as a publicly funded body were accounted for and that the trust is currently operating at a deficit of around £100m.

“I can’t ignore the negative impact this will have… but the significant financial penalty has to be fixed to mark the gravity of these offences and hold the trust to account for their failings,” the judge said.

The £1.6m fine was broken down into £700,000 related to the death of Quinn Parker, £300,000 each for the deaths of Adele O’Sullivan and Kahlani Rawson, and three amounts of £100,000 related to the care provided to each of the mothers.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the trust told the families in court they offered their “profound apologies and regrets” and that improvements have been made, including hiring more midwives and providing further training to staff.

‘Contemptuous and inhumane’

The court was told that one of the pregnant women, Emmie Studencki, went to the hospital four times suffering bleeding before her son Quinn was born.

On the final occasion before Quinn was born, Ms Studencki called an ambulance at around 6.15am on 14 July 2021 with paramedics estimating she had lost around 1.2 litres of blood both at home and in the ambulance on the way to City Hospital.

Despite this, the paramedics’ observations did not “find its way into the hospital’s notes”, with staff only recording a 200ml blood loss.

Quinn was “pale and floppy” when he was born via emergency Caesarean section that evening, and despite several blood transfusions, he was pronounced dead after suffering multiple organ failure and lack of oxygen to the brain.

An inquest concluded it was a “possibility” he would have survived had a Caesarean section been carried out earlier.

In a statement, Ms Studencki said the trust’s treatment of her, her son, and her partner Ryan Parker had been “contemptuous and inhumane”.

‘We lost our beautiful daughter’

Adele O’Sullivan died 26 minutes after being born following an emergency Caesarean at 29 weeks in April 2021, the court also heard.

Her mother Daniela had noticed bleeding and suffered abdominal pain but in a victim impact statement said she was left “screaming in pain” with no painkillers. Despite having a high-risk pregnancy, she was not examined for eight hours before Adele was born.

Adele was born in “poor condition” and a decision was made to withdraw care, with a post-mortem examination finding she died as a result of severe intrapartum hypoxia.

Daniela said: “People who were supposed to help me did not help but harmed me mentally and physically forever.

“We lost our beautiful daughter. Instead of bringing her home I had to leave the labour suite empty-handed in a lot of physical and mental pain.”

The trust also admitted liability in another case involving mother Ellise Rawson, who had reported abdominal pain and reduced foetal movements. She was delayed in receiving an emergency Caesarean section in June 2021. Her son Kahlani suffered a brain injury and died four days later.

Kahlani’s grandmother Amy Rawson told the court that her grandson’s death was a “preventable tragedy” that had left the family “devastated, broken and numb”.

This case is the second time the CQC has prosecuted the trust over failures in maternity care.

It was fined £800,000 for a “catalogue of failings and errors” that led to the death of a baby 23 minutes after she was born at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham in September 2019.

NUH is also at the centre of the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history, with midwife Donna Ockenden leading the investigation.

In February she confirmed the number of families taking part has increased to 2,032 – forcing a delay to her report’s publication until June 2026.

‘We fully accept the findings’

In a statement released after the hearing, NUH chief executive, Mr May said: “The mothers and families of these babies have had to endure things that no family should after the care provided by our hospitals failed them, and for that I am truly sorry.

“Today’s judgment is against the trust, and I also apologise to staff who we let down when it came to providing the right environment and processes to enable them to do their jobs safely.

“We fully accept the findings in court today and have already implemented changes to help prevent incidences like this from this happening again.”

He added that a CQC report published in September 2023 showed there had been an improvement in the overall rating for the trust’s maternity services.

Helen Rawlings, CQC’s director of operations in the Midlands, said in a statement after the sentencing: “The care that these mothers received, and the death of these three babies is an absolute tragedy and my thoughts are with their families and all those grieving their loss under such sad circumstances.

“All mothers have a right to safe care and treatment when having a baby, so it’s unacceptable that their safety was not well managed by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

“The vast majority of people receive good care when they attend hospital, but whenever a registered health care provider puts people in its care at risk of harm, we seek to take action to hold it to account and protect people.

“This is the second time we have prosecuted the trust for not providing safe care and treatment in its maternity services, and we will continue to monitor the trust closely to ensure they are making and embedding improvements so that women and babies receive the safe care they deserve.”

UK

UK summons Russian ambassador after British Council building hit in Kyiv

Published

9 hours ago

August 28, 2025

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UK summons Russian ambassador after British Council building hit in Kyiv

The Russian ambassador to the UK has been summoned by the Foreign Office following attacks on Kyiv overnight.

It comes after the British Council building in the Ukrainian capital suffered major damage in Russian strikes.

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Foreign Secretary David Lammy confirmed the government had summoned Andrey Kelin in response.

Mr Kelin was seen arriving at the Foreign Office building in Whitehall today.

Mr Lammy posted on X: “Putin’s strikes last night killed civilians, destroyed homes and damaged buildings, including the British Council and EU Delegation in Kyiv.

“We have summoned the Russian Ambassador. The killing and destruction must stop.”

The British Council’s chief executive, Scott McDonald, said their guard for the building was injured but “stable”.

“At the insistence of my amazing colleagues, we will continue operations in Ukraine today wherever possible,” he said.

“Their resilience is awe-inspiring, and I am deeply thankful they are all safe.”

Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer said: “My thoughts are with all those affected by the senseless Russian strikes on Kyiv, which have damaged the British Council building.

“Putin is killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace. This bloodshed must end.”

The British Council is an arms-length body from the government, and says its mission is to “support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide”.

It facilitates schemes like working, living and learning abroad for British people.

Most of its funding comes from the fees it charges people for its services, but it does also get funding from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

As well as the attack on the British Council building, Russia also targeted the EU delegation building in the Ukrainian capital overnight.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, told reporters two missiles hit within 50 metres of the site in 20 seconds.

And Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the bloc was also summoning Russia’s ambassador following the strike.

“No diplomatic mission should ever be a target,” she said.

The attacks came as part of wider strikes on Kyiv, which destroyed homes and buildings and killed at least 15 people and injured 38, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russia has said it targeted military sites and air bases in its large overnight strike on Ukraine – and that it is still interested in negotiations to meet its aims.

“The special military operation continues,” he said, referring to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which it launched in February 2022.

“You see that strikes on Russian infrastructure facilities are also continuing, and often Russian civilian infrastructure is targeted by the Kyiv regime.”

He added: “At the same time, Russia will maintain its interest in continuing the negotiation process in order to achieve the goals we face through political and diplomatic means.”

Russia’s latest attack on Ukraine has been widely condemned, with Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul saying there must be “consequences”.

“Last night we once again experienced in a terrible way how Russia attacked and bombed Kyiv, civilians died, children died, and the European Union delegation was also attacked,” he told reporters.

“And that cannot remain without consequences.”

Mr Wadephul added that Germany wanted to show it was considering a further response and that any action would be taken jointly by the EU.

A Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office Spokesperson said: “The UK condemns in the strongest terms these outrageous attacks on Ukrainians and the damage done to the British Council and EU Delegation.

“Russia’s increasing attacks on Ukrainian civilians and cities, including Kyiv, are an escalation of the war and deeply irresponsible and are further sabotaging international peace efforts.

“We have made clear to the Russians that such actions will only harden UK and Western resolve to support Ukraine and bring an end to this unjustified war.

“Russia must stop this senseless killing and destruction immediately.”

UK

Former Met Police volunteer guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a child

Published

9 hours ago

August 28, 2025

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Former Met Police volunteer guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a child

A former Metropolitan Police volunteer has been found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a child.

James Bubb, who now identifies as a woman named Gwyn Samuels, assaulted the victim multiple times when she was between the ages of 12 and 18.

Jurors were told Bubb, who identified as male at the time of the offences, would be referred to by their biological sex when allegations were being discussed throughout the trial.

Bubb met the victim on a video chat site in 2018, when he was around 21 and she was 12 years old. They then met in person for the first time at a Christian festival a few months later, the court was told.

The trial heard Bubb sexually assaulted the girl in public shortly before her 13th birthday, and that he was violent towards the girl when he raped her in her early teens.

In relation to the complainant, Bubb was on Thursday found guilty of one count of raping a child under 13, one count of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and one count of assault by penetration.

He was found not guilty of one count of rape and one count of sexual activity with a child in relation to that complainant, and found guilty of one count of rape against a second person.

The defendant made no expression as the verdicts were read out, but sobbed with their head in their hands after the foreman finished speaking.

Bubb, who is now 27, started training with the Met in 2020.

The first victim said the defendant spoke “a lot about the powers he had” in his role as a special constable.

The second complainant was a woman Bubb met online while posing as a 16-year-old girl.

They met when the woman had just turned 18, and were in an on-off relationship between January 2018 and February 2023.

She said Bubb used “BDSM and kink as a way of creating control” over her, and that he would “use police training techniques” on her.

“The control, the power he got, it sure as hell wasn’t consensual,” she told police.

Bubb, of Chesham, Buckinghamshire, will be sentenced at a later date.

UK

Prince Harry to return to UK on anniversary of Queen’s death for charity awards

Published

9 hours ago

August 28, 2025

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Prince Harry to return to UK on anniversary of Queen's death for charity awards

Prince Harry will return to the UK on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death next month for a charity awards ceremony.

The Duke of Sussex, 40, will support the WellChild children’s charity on September 8.

Prince Harry, who lives in California with his wife, Meghan Markle, 44, is a long-standing patron of the charity.

The 2025 awards mark three years to the day that Queen Elizabeth II, the duke’s grandmother, died at her home in Balmoral, Aberdeenshire.

‘Their stories remind us of the power of compassion’

Harry said in a statement: “I am always privileged to attend the WellChild Awards and meet the incredible children, families and professionals who inspire us all with their strength and spirit.

“For 20 years, these awards have highlighted the courage of young people living with complex health needs and shone a light on the devoted caregivers – family and professionals – who support them every step of the way.

“Their stories remind us of the power of compassion, connection and community.”

Harry is set to make a speech, present an award to an “inspirational child” aged between four and six and meet and talk with seriously ill children and their families.

He has held the role of the charity’s patron for 17 years and has attended the awards 14 times before.

The charity describes itself as the national children’s charity “making it possible for children and young people with complex medical needs to thrive at home instead of hospital, wherever possible”.

Harry was last seen in the UK in May after losing a long-running battle with the Home Office over changes to his security arrangements.

The visit is likely to fuel speculation that he will meet with his father, the King, and estranged brother, Prince William.