Family receives ‘nothing’ from East Kent hospitals after baby’s death

A mother whose baby died as a result of poor care at a maternity ward in Kent has been told she will not receive any compensation.

Tanya Linehan’s son Ashton was stillborn at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, in 2012.

The family’s story was an important part of it The Kirkup Inquiry to failures at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), which concluded that the care the family received “did not meet the required standards”.

After being invited by the hospital earlier this year to discuss compensation, they have now been told they would “get nothing”. Ms Linehan said the trust “denies the impact their negligence has had on me and my family”.

The investigation into East Kent Hospital’s maternity care was led by Dr Bill Kirkup and reported in October 2022.

It concluded 45 babies could have survivedwhile 12 people who suffered brain damage could have had a different outcome.

It also found that 23 women who died or suffered injuries could have achieved better outcomes if care had been provided to ‘nationally recognized’ standards.

Since the publication of the Kirkup Report, the Linehan family has been working with EKHUFT to improve maternity care for other families.

In May 2024, Ms Linehan was invited by the trust’s senior staff to speak to them about compensation.

Over the next five months, the family and senior staff at the trust had a number of meetings to discuss the details of a possible compensation package.

However, at the latest meeting on Thursday, Trust CEO Tracey Fletcher told the family: “You’re getting nothing.”

The family said no reasons were given for the decision.

Ms Linehan said: “It felt like we were back with the same feeling that this trust doesn’t matter.

“For them to say five months later that they had made the decision not to make any payments to me was really devastating.”

Her father, Phil Linehan, said the Kirkup report was a good report but “he had no confidence at all” in the hospital’s ability to implement its findings.

In a statement, the East Kent Hospitals Trust said: “We are sincerely sorry for the loss of baby Ashton and the devastating and lasting impact on his family of the trust’s failure to provide the safe care the family should have received, and this was highlighted in the Reading Signals report (Kirkup).

“We are committed to working with and listening to all families as we continue to improve maternity care.

“There is an established process for compensation within the NHS and after careful consideration the trust has concluded that it is unfortunately unable to make a payment outside of that process.”