Ida Lock
21 Mar 2025 · Coroner James Adeley · Lancashire & Blackburn with Darwen
The coroner's concerns
1. lack of culture of candour
“culture of candour within University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (Trust) and the impact that this has on safety, learning and implementing required changes to prevent deaths”
2. deep-seated and endemic culture
“[REDACTED]'s evidence to the inquest was that a deep-seated and endemic culture within the Trust leads to denial and a failure to learn”
3. lack of transparency and openness
“The Trust's approach to the inquest has been one of a lack of transparency and openness, failure to provide relevant information and a failure to identify with candour the defective clinical governance processes”
4. failure to disclose notification failures
“The Trust did not disclose that they had failed to notify the external bodies namely the CQC and the then CCG [ICB] via STEIS and the Trust's internal Serious Incidents Reporting Investigation panel”
5. unreliable data on complaints
“Trust figures to the Board provided in 2025 stated that there were no complaints over 6 months old when the Trust at the time of the inquest have not responded to [REDACTED] and [REDACTED]'s 1 June 2020 complaint”
6. deficient clinical governance
“clinical governance arrangements at the Trust require urgent review to ensure the appropriate personnel are in place, with the necessary training and skills to deliver robust clinical governance to ensure patient safety in maternity care”