An NHS trust has been fined £1.6m for failings connected to the deaths of three babies who were under its care.
Adele O’Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson and Quinn Parker died shortly after they were born in 2021 – all within 14 weeks of each other – while in the care of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.
The trust admitted six counts of failing to provide safe care and treatment to the babies and their mothers on Monday, following a prosecution brought by the healthcare watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
On Wednesday, family members cried in the courtroom as district judge Grace Leong expressed her “deepest sympathy” to each of them, and said the trust they put in NUH to deliver their babies safely had been broken.
Adele died at just 26 minutes old on 7 April 2021, Kahlani died aged four days old on 15 June, and Quinn was one day old when he died on 16 July.
Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard the fine was reduced from £5.5m, taking into account the trust’s financial position and guilty pleas.
The judge accepted the defence’s request that the fine be payable in two halves, one half by 31 March 2026 and the second half by 31 March 2027.
She said there were similarities among the “catalogue of failures” across the cases, in which all the mothers suffered a placental abruption, a serious condition in which the placenta starts to come away from the wall of the womb.
Of the babies’ families, the judge added: “They placed their trust in a system meant to protect expectant mothers and keep babies safe – and that trust was broken.
“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.
“It is very difficult, if not impossible, to move on from the failures of the trust and its maternity unit.”
The trust was also told to cover prosecution costs of £67,755.23 and ordered to pay a surcharge of £190.
It is the second time the CQC has prosecuted the trust over maternity failures.
In 2023, the trust was fined £800,000 after admitting failings in the care of Wynter Andrews, who died aged 23 minutes in 2019.
The trust is currently subject of the largest maternity review of its kind in NHS history, with about 2,500 cases being looked at.
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