When Poppy Russell died just hours after her birth, her parents were devastated. What came next made their grief almost unbearable. The hospital trust blamed the mother for the tragedy.
An inquest later proved that accusation was entirely false. In fact, Poppy’s death in April 2021 was completely preventable. But instead of turning away in anger, her parents, Katie and Neil Russell, chose a different path. They are now working directly with the very hospital trust that failed them to reshape how medical staff treat patients.
The initiative is called "Poppy’s Promise." It is a training scheme designed to bring basic human empathy back to healthcare.
A Preventable Tragedy and a Cover-Up
Katie Russell, now 41, went to the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford to give birth. She suffers from tokophobia, an extreme fear of childbirth, and had repeatedly requested a caesarean section. Midwives dismissed her fears, telling her she could not simply demand a C-section.
Instead, Katie was induced. She and her husband Neil, 45, spent hours in a room with little to no care. By the time they reached the labour ward, staff missed the clear signs that baby Poppy was in severe distress.
In a cruel twist of irony, doctors eventually performed an emergency C-section. It was too late. Poppy had suffered a severe hypoxic brain injury and died that day. An inquest in 2023 concluded that if Poppy had been delivered just one hour earlier, she would have lived.
To make matters worse, the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust (SaTH) accused Katie of refusing foetal monitoring. The inquest found this claim untrue.
"Losing your daughter is one thing," Neil Russell said. "But then to find that there was a cavalcade of lies was almost as bad."
Turning Grief into Empathy
The trust apologized in 2023, admitting to serious failures. Rather than walking away, the Russells met with hospital chiefs in early 2024. They wanted to ensure no other family faced the same cold, defensive treatment.
"The first conversations about Poppy’s Promise were about being human," Neil explained. Katie recalled one bright spot in her ordeal—a midwife who simply sat, held her hand, and cried with her. That moment of raw compassion became the blueprint for their campaign.
The trust, which was already under intense scrutiny after a major review revealed systemic maternity failures involving hundreds of cases, is now rolling out the "Poppy’s Promise" training to all 8,000 of its staff. It has even added a question about compassionate care to its job interview process.
Reclaiming Compassion Under Pressure
For busy hospital staff, maintaining empathy is not always easy. Midwifery ward manager Tasha Simmons said the training is a vital reminder to put the patient first. "They don’t need to know that I’ve answered three emergency bells this morning," she said. "What’s important is I’m fully present with them."
Dr. Adrian Marsh, an emergency consultant at the hospital, acknowledged that staff face severe compassion fatigue due to intense daily pressures. However, he noted that research shows patient outcomes actually improve when staff show empathy.
Other NHS trusts and universities are now looking to adopt the programme. For Katie and Neil, it is a way to make sure their daughter’s short life left a lasting mark. "If no change comes from what happened to Poppy," Katie said, "then what’s the point?"