A PAIR of grief-stricken parents were sent “harrowing” post-mortem pictures of their baby just weeks after his death.
Natalie and Dave Needham from Nottinghamshire received the distressing documents in the post following the death of their son Kouper in 2019.
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Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) had initially told the family that the images were sent from a whistle-blower.
However, Anthony May, the trust’s chief executive, later informed the family that the incident was actually a mistake.
The hospital claimed an investigation had taken place, but the result hadn’t been shared with the family until Mr May contacted them, according to Nottinghamshire Live.
In my eyes, they took my son away from me
Natalie Needham
The trust’s chief executive described the incident as “totally unacceptable” and has personally apologised to the family.
Natalie, 37, said she will “never ever forget” seeing the graphic images of her dead son.
The distraught couple claimed that, at the time, their concerns about Kouper were dismissed before they were discharged.
Natalie said: “In my eyes, they took my son away from me.
“Now the last image I have of my son is him cut up on a mortuary slab.”
Yet, for Natalie and Dave, the nightmare continued when all costs relating to Kouper’s death were sent along with the distressing pics.
“As harrowing as the pictures were to look at, the worst thing to see was a price listing of his death,” she added.
One of the costs listed was £57 for a staff member to inform the family of their son’s death.
This charge outraged Natalie who claimed she “told them he was dead” when they walked into the hospital with him.
The chief executive revealed that while the hospital had changed its processes, he had ordered an urgent review of its “Quality Assurance processes”.
Mr May told The Sun: “I would like to apologise to Natalie Needham for mistakes we have made with her Subject Access Request (SAR).
“We do have processes to ensure the quality of our SARs, but these fell short of what we would expect in these cases.
“An investigation was conducted into the images shared with Natalie Needham in the months after she received her SARs.
“While changes were made to our processes at the time, I have now also commissioned an urgent review of our Quality Assurance processes.
“I recognise the importance of timely and accurate responses to these requests for the families involved in the Independent Maternity Review.
“I am committed to improving this area of our work and while we have made some improvements, there is more to do.
“The process for requesting access to health records is also under review.
“More generally we are looking at ways to improve our support for families affected by the Independent Maternity Review.
“I intend to bring some of this detail to our Annual Public Meeting on 18 September.”
NUH is currently under the largest maternity review in NHS history, involving nearly 2,000 families’ cases after hundreds of baby deaths and injuries.
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It comes after a newborn baby was found dead in a north London house by police after its mother had turned up at the hospital.
And a four-year-old girl died two days after her family waited more than six hours to be seen at A&E before leaving.
What to do if you’re unhappy with the hospital’s conduct
There are two stages to the NHS complaints procedure:
The complaints procedure is the same for GPs, opticians, dentists, hospitals, and other NHS care providers.
In all cases, the focus is on finding a solution quickly and locally.
For example, you might be given an on-the-spot apology.
If you want to complain, you should:
- First try to discuss your concerns with the doctor, nurse or other medical professional involved in your care. They might be able to resolve your complaint immediately and say sorry. You can call or write if you’ve already left the hospital or practice you want to complain about.
- Ask to speak to a senior member of staff or GP practice manager if you can’t talk to the relevant medical professional.
- Contact the feedback and complaints team at your local NHS board – you can find it here.
What to include in a complaint
You can make a complaint in writing, by phone, by email, in person or using an online complaints form.
You should write to the complaints team at the NHS board responsible for the NHS service you’re complaining about.
In the complaints letter, always include:
- The date you’re sending the letter.
- A statement that you’re raising a complaint.
- Your full name and address – anonymous complaints are accepted but it might not be possible to investigate them fully.
- As much helpful information as possible about what happened, where it happened, when it happened and who was involved – it might be helpful to complete the template timeline of events, via here.
- how you want the complaint to be resolved – for example, by someone saying sorry. Bear in mind that financial compensation and disciplinary action aren’t possible under the complaints procedure. You can ask for the complaint to be dealt with under stage 2 straight away if you think this is appropriate.
You can find a template initial complaint letter here.
Be sure to keep a copy for your records.
Complaints might be handled at stage 2 because:
- They’re complex, serious or high-risk issues and aren’t suitable for early resolution
- Early resolution has failed
- You were unhappy with the outcome of stage 1 and asked for an investigation.
You should receive a written acknowledgement within three working days that the complaint has been received at stage 2.
After this, you might be asked to take part in a meeting or phone call with NHS staff to discuss the complaint.
This isn’t a formal legal meeting, and if you don’t feel well enough to attend the meeting you can ask for another form of communication to be arranged.
You should be able to take a representative or another person along for representation or support.
It might be helpful for you or someone else to take notes of the meeting.
You can keep a record of meetings using the template here.
You should receive a written response within 20 working days.
The response will tell you the result of the investigation and should:
- How that the complaint has been investigated and reply to all the points that were raised
- Offer an apology if things have gone wrong
- Explain what action has been taken or will be taken to stop what you complained about from happening again
- Explain why the NHS can’t do more about some parts of the complaint, if necessary
- Offer you a chance to talk to or meet a member of staff if there’s anything in the letter you don’t understand
- Include information about taking the complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) for an independent review if you’re still unhappy.