NHS Trust pleads guilty to failing to provide safe care to baby

NHS Trust pleads guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment of seven-day-old boy who died at scandal-hit hospital where doctors refused to work weekends

  • The NHS trust has pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment 
  • Harry Richford died in November 2017, seven days after his emergency delivery 
  • Inquest found his death at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate was ‘wholly avoidable’

An NHS trust has pleaded guilty to failing to provide safe care and treatment following the death of a baby boy.

Harry Richford died seven days after his emergency delivery at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate.  

An inquest later found that Harry’s death in November 2017 was ‘wholly avoidable’. 

At Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent today, the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment to Harry and his mother Sarah Richford under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations.

Sarah and Tom Richford with their son Harry, who died seven days after he was born in November 2017

The maternity unit of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate

The maternity unit of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate 

Care for mothers and newborn babies at the trust has been heavily criticised following a series of baby deaths.

The first-of-its-kind prosecution comes after Harry’s parents Tom and Sarah Richford spent years fighting for answers and campaigning for better maternity safety.