Health secretary considers maternity inquiry calls

Health Secretary Wes Streeting says he will consider calls for a public inquiry into a maternity scandal after pleas for further action from families.

Streeting met families who had lost babies and women under the care of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust on Thursday.

The trust is at the centre of the largest maternity review in the history of the NHS, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, which is looking into about 2,500 individual cases.

Streeting said he would “reflect carefully” on issues raised by the families, which included calls for a national public inquiry, and return to the city after he considered “next steps”.

In a statement following the private two-hour meeting, Streeting said he heard “personal and painful accounts” including stories of “dead babies, life-changing injuries” and ongoing trauma.

He said: “It is a meeting that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“While my words can’t do justice to what they – and other families across the country – have suffered, actions from government and the NHS can at least try to put right past wrongs.

“I will do everything in my power to ensure all women and babies receive the safe, personalised and compassionate care they deserve.”

Anthony May, the trust’s boss, said in a statement he was grateful to Streeting for finding time to meet the affected families.

He said the visit was “a significant step for the families in having their voices heard”, adding: “I have great respect for the way in which the families have worked to bring their concerns forward. In doing so, I am confident they are influencing improvements in maternity services.”

Among the families at the meeting was Sarah, whose son Ryan was left with brain damage due to the poor care he received at Nottingham City Hospital as a newborn baby.

NUH, which runs the hospital, later accepted responsibility for his brain injury.

She said: “I’m here mainly to point out that I reported these failings to the government in 2008 and wasn’t taken seriously.

“And every other person that came after me should not be after me, because they [NUH] told me the lessons were learned when this happened to Ryan.”

Sarah was 19 when she had Ryan – the same age he will be when the maternity review concludes.

She said she believed a public inquiry was necessary and “needs to be dealt with now”.

Kim Errington, whose son Teddy was a day old when he died in November 2020, also spoke to the health secretary.

An inquest in 2021 heard how midwives failed to monitor Teddy’s blood sugar levels before being sent home.

A coroner said there were “undoubtedly failings in Teddy’s care”.

Ms Errington said: “I think the meeting was very positive. Wes and his team received a lot of information, a lot of emotional information.

“You could see Wes was visibly moved at times, as were his team, and shocked, rightly so.”

She backed calls for a public inquiry and for “essential actions” identified by Ms Ockenden following an independent review of maternity at the The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, to be fully implemented across all maternity trusts in England.

In the report published in 2022, Ms Ockenden suggested a list of identified “immediate and essential actions” that should be taken by all maternity services in a “timely manner”.

Streeting added: “We are supporting trusts to make rapid improvements, as well as training thousands more midwives, but I know more needs to be done.

“The families raised a wide range of issues, many of which apply nationally, as well as some specific calls for further action.

“I’m going to reflect carefully on those and return to Nottingham to report back once I’ve fully considered next steps.”