"WE are confident maternity services are safe," Dudley's hospital chief has stressed after the release of a report looking into concerns about a high number of serious incidents involving women and their babies at Russells Hall Hospital.

NHS England alerted Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group to concerns about 43 cases reported as serious incidents at the hospital's maternity unit between April 2014 and December 2015 and as a result the Dudley Maternity Services Quality Improvement Board was set up to investigate.

The board reviewed 25 of the cases - 19 of which related to care affecting newborn babies and six cases relating to the care of expectant mums - and a raft of concerns were highlighted.

Following an initial assessment by Dudley CCG it was confirmed Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust's investigations into serious incidents in maternity at Russells Hall "were inadequate, that learning was not identified appropriately and that there was harm in some cases" - the report published this week said.

Consequently, the Quality Improvement Board was tasked with ensuring action was taken to address failings and improve maternity services - and give families affected a chance to contribute to any lessons learned.

Diane Wake, who became chief executive of the Dudley Group in April this year, said the report had been published to ensure the findings of the board were "open and transparent" and she added: "Lessons have been learned from what happened between April 2014 and December 2015 and we have further enhanced our maternity services."

The report highlighted five cases where "there was avoidable harm" and one baby death in 2015 that could have been avoided and it went on to say "there were missed opportunities to prevent further recurrence of service and care delivery problems that may cause harm" due to a disconnection between Dudley Group clinicians and the maternity risk management process.

Mrs Wake told the News she was "incredibly disappointed" that some patients and their families had been let down and said: "If we can offer further support to those patients affected we would want to do that."

The report said there had been delays in concerns being escalated in a timely manner to senior obstetricians, concern regarding use of drugs to induce labour and co-ordinate contractions, a lack of senior paediatric support available to assist with baby resuscitation at complex births, heart rate monitoring misinterpreted in some cases and the wellbeing of the unborn baby compromised in some cases.

There was also concern that staff, on occasion, were slow to respond in a timely way to urgent situations and in some cases appreciate the deterioration of a woman's condition.

Mrs Wake said the trust had embraced the findings of the report and she stressed: “We have made a lot of changes to maternity services."

She said extra training has been implemented, a new head of midwifery has since been appointed and another 12 midwives recruited plus four new obstetrician/gynaecology consultants – and she added: “We now we compare very favourably with other organisations.”

The report added that sharing of learning has now become a priority in the maternity unit and it said meetings were now held regularly with midwives, paediatricians and anaesthetists to discuss the care of women and babies - and it noted the trust has established a good working relationship with the Royal Wolverhampton Trust and that midwives have shared learning and good practice.

Mrs Wake added: “We are confident maternity services are safe and are delivering a good quality patient experience."