In a statement, the health secretary said that while “change will not happen overnight”, he was determined to “take swift action to ensure all women and babies receive safe, personalised and compassionate care, so there are no repeats of these unimaginable tragedies”.
Among those who signed the letter were Fiona Winser-Ramm and Dan Ramm, whose baby, Aliona Grace, died at Leeds General Infirmary in 2020, only 27 minutes after she was born.
An inquest three years later found a “number of gross failures of the most basic nature that directly contributed to Aliona’s death”.
The couple, who connected with other bereaved parents after setting up a Facebook group, believe there are many more affected.
The investigation used a Freedom of Information request to obtain data from the trust showing potentially preventable baby deaths.
This revealed at least 56 cases between January 2019 and July 2024 – 27 stillbirths and 29 neonatal deaths (deaths within 28 days of birth) at the city’s General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital.
