‘Dear Donna,

 I am writing on behalf of members, past and present, of the Bereavement Support Team at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust to express our deepest admiration for your well-received “Ockenden Report”.  

To have taken on that piece of work must have been very challenging indeed; we noted your ready admission of the pain you experienced personally in that necessary task of listening to the women and their families who had suffered so greatly.

We all recall with great thanks your years at Portsmouth: the encouragement you gave … in exploring the possibilities of establishing a thorough and ambitious training programme. Your enthusiastic backing, plus the very necessary funding, made so much possible – including making available …[external]  expertise. The Training Courses eventually grew to include nurses from Gynae, NICU and Ancillary staff working in all areas. There was even a slot in the Divisional Induction Programme for Junior Doctors, which was well-received. We wish you every success in taking your work forward – knowing that you are absolutely the right person for such an important work not only in Shrewsbury but throughout England. You have our hearts with you!’

NHS Chaplain