The Furness General Hospital scandal involves an investigation by Cumbria Constabulary and other government and public bodies into the deaths of several mothers and newborn babies, during the 2000s at Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. Cases date back to 2004, with a number of major incidents occurring in 2008. The death of Joshua Titcombe and a suppressed report by the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust brought the spotlight onto FGH in 2011 when investigations began. Claims of medical records being intentionally destroyed alongside the discovery of major wrongdoing on behalf of midwives led to threats of closure to the maternity ward.
The scandal was covered in a 2012 BBC Panorama episode titled "How Safe is Your Hospital?" with the Stafford Hospital scandal. In June 2013, Cumbria Constabulary announced they would only be pursuing the Titcombe case and that other complaints would not proceed to a criminal prosecution. Later in the same month, the British medical community was rocked by allegations that the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which took part in investigations, was fully aware of concerns of maternity care at FGH as early as 2008 and gave the hospital a clean bill of health in 2010, having destroyed evidence to the contrary.
The independently issued Morecambe Bay Investigation Report was published in 2015, stating a "lethal mix" of "serious and shocking" failings had led to the deaths of eleven babies and one mother. The report recommended a national review of maternity care and thorough investigations of staff members involved by the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council. Numerous investigations have discovered serious failings, corruption and cover-ups on every level; investigations continue and no individual has been held accountable for the deaths at FGH. The criminal investigation into the scandal was concluded in April 2015 with no prosecutions.
Notable cases
Police did not announce the number of deaths being investigated but six known are listed below. Several families of the victims have revealed that they are suing the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust, claiming clinical negligence. The claim of Carl Hendrickson (husband and father of Nittaya and Chester Hendrickson respectively) alone is expected to exceed £50,000. An inquest into the death of nine-day-old Joshua Titcombe at FGH revealed the infection that killed him could easily have been treated if noticed by midwives. Medical staff ignored his parents Hoa and James's fears for his health.
CQC investigations
On 13 September, several national newspapers reported that race played a role in the hospital's wrongdoings after it was revealed 83 percent of serious incidents at FGH in 2008 involved ethnic minorities, while only 2 percent of Barrow's population is non-white. Cumbria Constabulary have however refused to pursue the racial angle of the crime.
Other bodies involved in the investigation include health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. A report by the CQC threatened to close the maternity ward at FGH by 21 November 2011 if major changes were not implemented. The NMC identified 19 areas requiring urgent improvement, including governance, risk management, collaborative working and leadership.
In late October 2011, during the height of the investigation, leaked figures revealed that FGH had the worst mortality rate of any hospital in England. The mortality ratio for the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust (which also runs hospitals in Lancaster and Kendal) stood at 124, significantly higher than national average. It is suspected that up to 16 babies and two mothers died at FGH due to poor care with over 30 claims for compensation; despite this Cumbria police narrowed their investigation in 2013 to focus on the death of just one child and decided not to prosecute over any of the other deaths.
Care Quality Commission controversy
In August 2012, new CQC chief executive David Behan commissioned a report by management consultants Grant Thornton. The report examining the CQCs response to complaints about baby and maternal deaths and injuries at Furness General Hospital, was instigated by a complaint from a member of the public and "an allegation of a 'cover-up', submitted by a whistleblower at CQC." It was published on 19 June 2013.