Poppy Russell died in April 2021 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, just 12 hours after birth. During her pregnancy, her mother Katie had expressed to midwives that she had tokophobia, a fear of natural birth, and requested a caesarean delivery. Katie reported that her requests were dismissed and that during labor she received inadequate monitoring and care. When emergency intervention became necessary, Poppy had already sustained a hypoxic brain injury and died later that day. An inquest subsequently determined that the death was preventable and would have been avoided had Poppy been delivered an hour earlier.
Following the inquest in 2023, the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust acknowledged failings in care and issued an apology. Initially, the trust had blamed Katie for her daughter’s death, claiming she had refused fetal monitoring—a claim the inquest found to be false. The trust later acknowledged that staff members had attempted to cover up aspects of the case. At the time of Poppy’s death, the trust was undergoing a large maternity inquiry that identified 201 babies and nine mothers who might have survived with better care.
Rather than pursuing blame, Poppy’s parents decided to work constructively with the trust to drive change. In March 2024, following discussions with leadership, they developed Poppy’s Promise, an initiative based on four care principles: compassion, acknowledgement, respect, and empowerment. The program aims to remind healthcare workers to treat patients as individuals rather than focusing solely on medical diagnoses.
The trust has begun rolling out Poppy’s Promise training to its 8,000 staff members and has incorporated questions about compassionate care into its recruitment processes. Staff members acknowledge that pressure from heavy patient loads and competing demands can make maintaining compassion difficult, though research suggests that compassionate care leads to better patient outcomes and fewer complications. The initiative has generated interest from other NHS organizations and universities exploring ways to incorporate its principles into their programs, with the ultimate goal of embedding compassionate care practices throughout the health service.
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