A mother whose baby died following poor care at a Kent maternity unit has been told she will not receive any compensation.

Tanya Linehan’s son Ashton was stillborn at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, in 2012.

Family history was a key part of Kirkup’s investigation into failings at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT), which concluded that the care the family received “did not meet the required standards”.

After being invited by the hospital to discuss compensation earlier this year, they have now been told they “will receive nothing”. Linehan says the trust “denies the impact its negligence has had on me and my family.”

The inquiry into East Kent Hospital’s maternity care was led by Dr Bill Kirkup and reported in October 2022.

concluded 45 babies could have survivedwhile 12 who suffered brain damage could have had a different outcome.

It also determined that 23 women who died or were injured could have had better outcomes if care had been provided to “nationally recognized” standards.

Since the publication of the Kirkup report, the Linehan family has been working with EKHUFT to try to improve maternity care for other families.

In May 2024, senior staff at the trust invited Ms Linehan to speak to them about compensation.

Over the next five months, the family and senior staff at the trust held several meetings to discuss the details of any compensation package.

However, at Thursday’s final meeting, the trust’s chief executive Tracey Fletcher told the family “you will get nothing”.

The family said no reasons had been given for the decision.

Linehan said: “I felt like we came back with the same feeling that this trust doesn’t care.

“For them to say five months later that they had made the decision not to make any payments to me was really devastating.”

His father, Phil Linehan, said the Kirkup report was good but he had “no faith” in the hospital’s ability to implement its findings.

In a statement, East Kent Hospitals Trust said: “We are sincerely sorry for the loss of baby Ashton and the devastating and lasting impact on his family of the trust’s failure to provide the safe care the family should have received, and highlighted in the Reading report. the Signals report (Kirkup).

“We are committed to working with and listening to all families as we continue to improve maternity care.

“There is an established process for compensation within the NHS and after careful consideration the trust has concluded that it is unfortunately unable to make a payment outside of that process.”