HEALTH chiefs have moved to try to reassure women in Ludlow and south Shropshire that they can be confident in having their babies under the care of the Shropshire and Telford NHS Trust.

The move comes following the leak of an interim report into maternity services provided by the Trust.

It has been investigating more than 40 deaths of babies and mothers over a 40-year period and many other cases of harm.

The leaked report related to cases, including severe brain damage because of a failure to recognise that labour was going wrong.

Now Paula Clark, the interim chief executive of the Trust has made an unreserved apology and said that lessons are being learned.

“I would like to say how sorry we are as an organisation to those families,” she said.

“But I do believe that there is some really good news.

“We are moving forward.

“We are not quite where we want to be yet, but we want to reassure families that we are making changes, that we are learning lessons and that they can be confident about having their babies with us.

“So, this is about openness now, this is about transparency for us as an organisation, learning the lessons and making sure that all staff are held to account for the service that they give to patients.”

One couple from Ludlow who now live in Hereford have been fighting for a full investigation for the past decade.

Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton lost their baby Kate who died in the Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham where she was airlifted after being born in the maternity unit at Ludlow Hospital.

The couple want the police to be involved and have called for a case of Corporate Manslaughter to be brought against the Trust.

An interim report from maternity expert Donna Ockenden and set up by Jeremy Hunt, when he was Health Secretary, was leaked to a national newspaper