A bereaved mother who lost her baby after “fighting to be heard” said change was still “desperately needed” at the hospital trust nearly five years on.

Liz Charlton, from Shoreham, is part of a bereaved families group meeting Health Secretary Wes Streeting today, April 15, pushing for a full investigation into University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust to be led by senior midwife and investigator Donna Ockenden.

The 41-year-old’s baby daughter Hazel died on July 14, 2021, after “missed opportunities” to deliver her earlier when Ms Charlton was admitted to Worthing Hospital in severe pain and blacking out at 28 weeks pregnant.

Ms Charlton, who previously had six miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy before her pregnancy with Hazel, told the Press Association: “I fought for my own pregnancy, advocated, to be ignored, not heard, argued with, to get to the point where I needed them the most, for them to let me down.

Liz and Anthony Charlton (Image: Family Handout/PA Wire)

“In my mind, with my complex history, I should have been a high-risk case… and it never felt like my individual needs were recognised.

“We’re nearly half-a-decade on and there are still failings.”

She said she believed there were still avoidable deaths happening at the trust and that “change needs to happen now”.

Last June, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced an independent investigation into maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which has now been expanded to include 15 families.

The trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, carried out its own review from 2019-2023 on maternity deaths and concluded a different outcome may have been possible for 55 babies.

Ms Charlton is calling for accountability through an opt-out independent review by Ms Ockenden.

“The only way you can have clear change is to have the most efficient, effective review done by someone that has an evidence base of doing it, that knows how to do it, that’s done it well before,” she said.

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“So for me, it will give me accountability and justice, I think, and overall really change for the future.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted from the beginning, is that this to never happen to anyone else, for there to be safe, maternity care for everyone.”

The clinical manager for dental practices is part of the Sussex Truth for Our Babies group calling for the review.

She said that families were still approaching the group each month because they believed their babies’ deaths were avoidable.

During her own pregnancy with Hazel, Ms Charlton said she found she was repeating crucial information around her medical history to new staff at appointments, including having a uterine perforation which can increase the risk of rupture in future pregnancies.

Baby Hazel’s hand and footprints kept in the couple’s memory box (Image: Family Handout/PA Wire)

Then, on the evening of July 13, 2021, at around 10.30pm, Ms Charlton became unwell at home with severe pain, vomiting and blacking out.

Her husband called an ambulance which then took an hour before arriving at Worthing Hospital, where she was admitted at 1.30am on July 14 and her condition deteriorated over several hours.

She was not given pain relief, had a seizure trying to reach the toilet and was supposed to have blood taken which never happened, Ms Charlton said.

Just after 9am, Ms Charlton was put under general anaesthetic and despite efforts to resuscitate Hazel, she was stillborn and pronounced dead at 9.18am.

Ms Charlton was still in surgery until midday with a uterine rupture and in a coma for a day.

“I was woken up that evening, I was in ITU and I knew Hazel had gone,” she said.

Ms Charlton said her and her husband Anthony were a team, who honoured Hazel in everything they did and had a memory box of her which included scan photos, handprints, a blanket knitted for her, a teddy and a clip of her hair.

“Hazel was the child that we prayed to God for. She was a gift, and I needed them, the trust, the most then and they let me down,” she said.

“All our fears came true, our worst nightmares came true, and we live that every day. We live what we feared the most.

“I fought fearlessly to be heard, and I’m still sat here with my arms empty.”

Ahead of the meeting with the Health Secretary in Brighton, the Sussex Truth for Our Babies group said Ms Charlton’s experiences showed why Sussex needed a “full and wide-reaching” independent review.

They said she was one of more than 60 families in the region who had been affected by maternity care failings.

“We are now putting our faith in Wes Streeting to respond to our calls for accountability and change,” the group said.

Ms Charlton added: “The Secretary of State should be fighting for us. We will fight until we get what we need.”

Worthing Hospital’s maternity services were upgraded by the Care Quality Commission from “requires improvement” to “good” in February this year, while the trust said it had increased staffing levels, theatre capacity and telephone triage in recent years.

Dr Maggie Davies, chief nurse at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The loss of a baby is an unimaginable tragedy for any parent, and we offer our deepest condolences and sincere apologies to Hazel’s family.

“Everyone involved in Hazel’s care has been deeply affected by her loss, and the suffering we know it has caused.

“We cannot comment further while legal proceedings are ongoing, but we recognise that no settlement can ever truly compensate for the family’s distress.

“Our priority is always to provide the best care – that means listening carefully, learning, and making changes so that families today get the safest care possible.”