The grief of bereaved families was further compounded by the “cruel behaviour” of staff and a culture of denial, gaslighting and victim-blaming, the report found.
Care after death was no better, the inquiry found, with babies described as “specimen”, thrown into clinical waste or given to the wrong family before a funeral.
Mr Murray said he had been left “aghast” by horrific failings exposed in the report, and felt “numb” after hearing the depth of the pain suffered by victims.
“I felt devastated that so many women and babies, as well as their fathers and other family members, had suffered injury, death and lasting trauma whilst under the care of the NHS,” he told the Commons.
But he went on to suggest that it would take some time for the Government to act on her recommendations, only promising a delivery plan by the end of this year.
The 381-page report described “longstanding and deeply embedded systemic failures” at the trust, with failings known about since at least 2010.
The review in Nottingham concluded that there were “potentially avoidable” outcomes relating to 444 maternity cases examined up to May last year, alongside 76 cases involving newborns. All these cases were classed as involving either “major concerns” or “significant concerns” that could have affected the outcome for those involved.
The review detailed cases in which babies died, including from oxygen starvation, mismanaged labour, hospital-acquired infections and poor postnatal care delivered by midwives and doctors.
Babies who died included Harriet Hawkins, who died “avoidably in 2016 following significant failures in maternity care”, Wynter Andrews, who died in 2019 “after significant failures in care”, and Ladybird, whose parents were wrongly told to terminate a healthy pregnancy, the report said.
In total, around 2,500 families came forward, sharing disturbing accounts with the review, after a group of families, led by Sarah and Jack Hawkins, began a campaign for justice following the death of Harriet.
Dr Hawkins, now 57, worked for the NUH trust as a hospital consultant at the time Harriet died, while Mrs Hawkins, 43, was a senior physiotherapist. Hospital bosses denied any fault, and the couple were told their child had died of an infection.