The largest maternity scandal in NHS history, involving Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, is set to be brought to the screen in a new television drama. This development follows a comprehensive review last month which uncovered that more than 500 mothers and babies experienced potentially avoidable harm or death due to systemic failings within the trust's maternity services. The forthcoming series aims to shed light on the profound human cost of these failures, focusing on the harrowing experience of Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet tragically died before birth at Nottingham City Hospital, run by NUH, in 2016.
The Hawkins' story is central to the upcoming drama, with actor Jason Isaacs confirmed to play Jack Hawkins. They were among the earliest voices to raise the alarm about the quality of care at the trust. Initially, a hospital review found no obvious fault in Harriet's death, attributing it to an infection. However, Jack and Sarah, both former employees of the trust, relentlessly pursued an external review. This external investigation, published in 2018, identified 13 failings and concluded that Harriet’s death was 'almost certainly preventable', a significant finding that challenged the initial internal assessment.
The wider independent review into maternity failings across Nottingham, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, commenced in September 2022. Sarah Hawkins expressed her hope that the drama will offer a new avenue for public understanding, stating that while documentaries can be powerful, the raw horror of preventable harm sometimes causes people to disengage. She believes a dramatisation will allow viewers to connect more deeply with the experiences of affected families, providing another opportunity to grasp the enduring struggles faced by those impacted by the NUH scandal.
Jack Hawkins reflected on the behaviour within the hospital following Harriet's death, noting that it was the actions of individuals, rather than the institution itself, that prompted their fight. He anticipates the drama will reveal the human behaviours encountered by families who felt pressured to accept their losses as normal or unavoidable. This sentiment underscores a broader concern about the normalisation of avoidable harm within healthcare settings, questioning how 500 instances of avoidable death or harm could occur.
The series, produced by Cuba Pictures and directed by Jim Loach, builds upon the foundations of the ITV documentary 'Maternity: Broken Trust', which followed the Hawkins and other affected families. Laura Warner, who directed the award-winning documentary, is also an executive producer for the new series. She noted that while the documentary provided valuable insight, a drama offers the capacity to delve into the 'sheer depth of trauma and pain and frustration and struggle' experienced by the families, allowing for a more profound emotional connection with their stories.