Powys father awarded MBE for maternity death campaign

Colin Griffiths, originally from Guilsfield, and his wife Kayleigh have been awarded an MBE for services to maternity care at Buckingham Palace after years of campaigning for justice at the maternity unit scandal at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

It came after the tragic death of their daughter Pippa when she was just a day old from a Group B Strep infection in 2016.

The couple were presented with their awards by the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, at Buckingham Palace on October 27 for their campaigns for justice for families affected in the scandal and for the routine testing for the Group B Strep bacteria.

OTHER NEWS:

• 'Ashamed' drug driver used offence to turn life around
• Happy Monday memories as we remember Powys life during the 1980s
• Frustrations grow over overflowing bins and lack of collections in Powys town

The couple had decided on a home birth due to the “appalling state” of the birthing centre in Shrewsbury. Pippa struggled to feed almost immediately. It was found Kayleigh spoke to her midwifery team on four occasions about her concerns, including “a frantic call in the early hours of the morning” after Pippa coughed up brown liquid. She was repeatedly told not to worry.

Later that morning Pippa was found unresponsive and passed away the following afternoon.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust told the family they would carry out an investigation. But after several weeks of silence, they contacted the trust to be told it was an internal investigation and their input wouldn’t be required.

Kayleigh who worked an NHS auditor at a different trust, feared the truth was being hidden from her. Since that point the couple campaigned for the truth to be revealed.

Their tireless work with other parents directly led to the Ockenden report in March 2022 which revealed a long history of dysfunction at the maternity unit at the trust – considered one of the biggest scandals in the history of the NHS.

The review found 1,592 “clinical incidents” dating back over 20 years, this included 201 deaths of either children or the mother where there were concerns over care.

Following the award of their MBE the couple have, along with other bereaved families, launched a petition to have a national inquiry into maternity services following similar investigations underway at Nottingham and other failures appearing across England.

In their petition they said: “We are launching this petition to ask the Department of Health and the government to commit to a national public inquiry into maternity services, because without a top down review that leaves no stone unturned, the oft repeated national failings will continue to cause avoidable harm and death and devastate families.

“Safe maternity provision in the UK is not the norm.  As Donna Ockenden said in her report into the Trust where our daughters died: “childbirth is not safe for women in England”. 

“Robust action is required of immediately.  Rather than disconnected and disjointed clinical and criminal investigations into hospital trusts across the country, a public inquiry into maternity services is the only way we can get to the root of the issues and create required change.”