SNP must act quickly to calm grieving parents' fears that maternity service review will be 'waste of time'

Julie Keegan fears an independent review of maternity services could end up being 'an absolute insult' (Picture: Craig Meighan) | PA

In June this year – following a deeply concerning inspection report into yet another maternity unit in Scotland, this time at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital – a group of bereaved parents issued a statement saying “too many babies are dying in Scotland, too many questions remain unanswered and too many families lack confidence in our NHS as baby deaths continue to rise”.

Calling for “decisive actions to prevent further loss of life”, they raised concerns about a review of maternity services announced by the Scottish government last year, saying it offered “little reassurance”. “What is required is an independent investigation chaired by someone who understands systemic failings and is trusted by both families and staff and can take decisive action to prevent further loss of life,” they said.

This was an opportunity for the government to take steps to address the relatives’ fears and ensure that they have confidence in the review process. Unfortunately, this does not appear to have happened.

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‘Toxic culture’

Indeed, as we report today, parents are, if anything, even more worried, with one mother, Julie Keegan, whose three day-old son Mason died after a series of failings in his care, strongly criticising a decision to make the review “forward-looking”.

Keegan, who has met with Health Secretary Angela Constance, said: “They don’t want to look at anything in the past. They want to just wipe the slate clean and look to the future. But this has been going on for years, and it’s a toxic culture that needs to be investigated to stop things like this from happening.

“It feels like it’s going to be a complete waste of time if it’s just going to be a forward-looking model, it’s an absolute insult... We want a proper inquiry that is going to investigate the failings of the past.”

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She is far from alone, with more than 4,300 people signing a petition calling for the review’s approach to be broadened. At the very least, ministers must now move quickly to reassure parents that the lessons of past mistakes will be learned.

However if they cannot because the concerns of Keegan and the other parents are justified and this review really is going to ignore the problems which prompted it to be set up – which seems hard to believe – the SNP should be in no doubt that this would be a scandal of the highest order.