Family to ‘get nothing’ from East Kent Hospitals after death of baby

A mother whose baby died following poor care at a Kent maternity unit has been told she will not receive any compensation.

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

The family’s story was a key part of The Kirkup inquiry into failures at the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) which concluded the care the family received “failed to meet the standards required”.

After being invited by the hospital trust to discuss compensation earlier this year they have now been told they will “get nothing”. Ms Linehan says the trust is “in denial of the impact their negligence has had on me and my family”.

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

It concluded 45 babies could have survived, while 12 who sustained brain damage could have had a different outcome.

It also determined 23 women who either died or suffered injuries might have had better outcomes had care been given to “nationally recognised” standards.

Since the publication of the Kirkup report the Linehan family has been working with EKHUFT to try and improve its maternity care for other families.

In May 2024 Ms Linehan was invited by senior staff at the trust 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 any compensation package.

However, at the final meeting on Thursday the trust’s chief executive Tracey Fletcher told the family “you will get nothing”.

The family said no reasons had been given for the decision.

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

“For them to say five months down the line that they’d made the decision to not make any payments to me was really devastating.”

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

In a statement 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 which was highlighted in the Reading the Signals [Kirkup] report.

“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 regrettably it is unable to make a payment outside of that process.”