Mother of boy left brain damaged after hospital failings during birth awarded payout

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The mother of a boy left severely disabled following blunders at a scandal-hit hospital during his birth has secured a huge payout after suing the NHS.

Reverend Charlotte Cheshire’s son Adam was left brain-damaged following one of the UK’s worst maternity scandals at Shrewsbury Hospital.

Adam developed Group B Strep (BGS) and meningitis and spent a month in intensive care after bungling medics missed opportunities to diagnose the infections.

Rev Cheshire, 45, said her newborn son was only given antibiotics seven hours after telltale signs were first spotted and he was left fighting for his life.

Now aged 11, Adam is profoundly disabled - autistic, developmentally delayed, and both visually and hearing impaired with behavioural problems.

He is likely to be reliant on others to care for him for the rest of his life and will be unable to work.

His mother began legal action against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust and last Monday secured a payout, which is expected to run into millions of pounds.

The trust agreed to accept 80 per cent responsibility for Adam’s brain injury and pay an interim payment, which is yet to be determined by judges.

Rev Cheshire, of Newport, Shrops., has now vowed to continue campaigning for change to maternity standards after successfully suing the hospital at London’s High Court.

The Church of England priest said: “My pregnancy with Adam was in many ways textbook but it felt that changed when my waters broke.

“From that point, I just had a mother’s instinct something wasn’t right but I was reassured by the midwives so many times that everything was okay.

“At no point in my pregnancy or in the hours after Adam was born was I told about Group B Strep.

“I later found out following a review of my records, that early in my pregnancy it was decided that I wouldn’t have a test for GBS because I didn’t have the risk factors associated with it.

“It was very hard to learn that this had been considered but not discussed with me considering the eventual outcome.

“While Adam is adorable and I’m so thankful to have him in my life, it’s difficult not to think how things could have turned out much differently for him if he’d received the care he should have.

“Adam will never live an independent life and will need lifelong care,” she continued. “Nothing will ever make up for what he’s gone through but today means we can try and start looking to the future as a family as we have the answers we deserve and the security of knowing Adam’s needs will be taken care of.”

Adam was born at Shrewsbury Hospital on 25 March 2011, nearly 35 hours after her waters broke.

In the hours after his birth Adam struggled to feed, was crying and started grunting, all signs of early-onset Group B Strep (GBS). The bacterial infection can lead to life-threatening conditions such as meningitis if not treated quickly.

Around 14 hours after his birth, Adam was transferred to a neo-natal intensive care unit.

The following day he was diagnosed with GBS and meningitis and was left battling for his life.

Rev Cheshire instructed expert medical negligence lawyers to investigate the family’s care under the trust.

They found there were several missed opportunities to have monitored Adam in the hours after his birth and recognise he was at risk of infection.

There was also a failure to escalate his care to paediatricians, in light of him not feeding, his high-pitched cry overnight, and grunting, lawyers said.

The next stage of his case will involve establishing the amount of compensation Adam requires to help fund the specialist life-long care and therapy he needs.

In another tragic blow for the family, Adam’s father Chris died from cancer in 2020.

Sara Burns, the medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing Charlotte, said: “While the maternity failings which were allowed to manifest at Shrewsbury and Telford over many years are well documented, their shocking nature never diminishes.

“We believe that Adam’s care was typical of many issues families have raised.

“Serial observations were missed, signs that should have been acted upon weren’t and serious illnesses were diagnosed too late.

“We continue to receive many first-hand accounts from families across the UK affected by issues in maternity care.”

The family’s care was also examined as part of the Ockenden review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals.

The full Ockenden Review report into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals was published last March following a five-year investigation.

The damning report identified 60 areas where care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust should improve.

Not enough staff training, deaths being dismissed or not investigated properly and a culture of not listening to families were among the issues identified in the report.

A Trust spokesperson for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust told The Independent: “We are very sorry for the failings in the care provided to this family, unfortunately we are unable to comment on ongoing legal cases.”