An NHS trust has been fined £1.6m for numerous failings in connection with the deaths of three babies who were under its care. Adele O’Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson and Quinn Parker died shortly after they were born in 2021 – all within 14 weeks of each other – while in the care of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust. The trust admitted failings in the care of the babies and their mothers on Monday, in the prosecution brought by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Each of the families spoke of the longstanding pain and distress caused by the trust’s actions ahead of sentencing on Wednesday. Nottingham Magistrates’ Court heard the fine was reduced from £5.5m, taking into account the trust’s financial position and guilty pleas. District judge Grace Leong accepted the defence’s request that the fine be payable in two halves, one half by 31 March 2026 and the second half by 31 March 2027. There were similarities among the “catalogue of failures” across the cases, in which all the mothers suffered a placental abruption, a serious condition in which the placenta starts to come away from the wall of the womb. Of the babies’ families, the judge added: “They placed their trust in a system meant to protect expectant mothers and keep babies safe – and that trust was broken.”
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