Hospitals in County Durham and Darlington paid out more than £13m to 20 bereaved families and complainants after problems in their maternity care. 

Twenty families from the area put in claims following childbirth and maternity negligence, including mother and baby deaths and brain damage. They received payouts between 2019 and 2023. 

A further 18 families put in unsuccessful claims about the maternity care at County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust (CDDFT).

The trust supports about 4,000 births per year in County Durham and has said that they are "committed" to learning from every birth that does go wrong. 

'Inadequate' CQC report 

Maternity wards at University Hospital of North Durham, and Darlington Memorial Hospital received a critical Care Quality Commission report last September, rating their services as inadequate.

Since then, CDDFT said they have taken "extensive measures", seeing improvement in services that have since been recognised by the CQC. 

Birth trauma inquiry

An FOI by Legal Expert revealed that across trusts in the North East and Cumbria, £62m was paid out on negligence claims for childbirth and maternity failings. 

The research was conducted in the wake of the UK’s first-ever parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma earlier this year which heard harrowing evidence from 1,300 women. 

Some mothers told the inquiry they were left in blood-soaked sheets while others said their children had suffered life-changing injuries due to medical negligence. 

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CDDFT responds

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: “The safety and well-being of our patients is our top priority, and we deeply regret any instance where the care provided has fallen short of the high standards we aim to deliver.

“On average, every year we support over 4,000 births across County Durham and Darlington and we have taken extensive measures across our maternity services to make significant improvements which have been reflected in the most recent CQC inspection.

“We are committed to learning from every incident and to listening and acting on the feedback we receive from the families we support. Our focus remains on delivering the safest and most compassionate care to every mother and baby in our communities.”