LONDON — Dozens of babies and three mothers died at hospitals in England over four decades because of major staff failings, in what experts said could become the biggest maternity scandal in the history of Britain’s National Health Service.

The problems at the facilities that make up the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust from 1979 to 2017 resulted in dozens of stillbirths as well as the deaths of newborns and women who had just given birth, an independent investigation ordered by the government in 2017 has found. It also cited more than 50 cases of injury.

The findings were summarized in an interim report first disclosed by The Independent and seen by The New York Times. It identifies hundreds of cases of repeated failings and clinical errors by doctors, midwives and hospital bosses, as well as a lack of transparency and honesty.

A senior official at the National Health Service called the findings a major and disturbing scandal. More and more people are coming forward by the day, he said, adding that the problems may well extend beyond the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust.