Government launches national investigation into NHS maternity services

Leader Live

3 hours ago

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that 'up and down' the country 'maternity units are failing, hospitals are failing, trusts are failing, regulators are failing' and there was 'too much passing the buck'.
Mr Streeting, who has been meeting families who have lost babies to poor maternity care, told the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) conference in London: 'Over the last year, I've been wrestling with how we tackle problems in maternity and neonatal units, and I've come to the realisation that while there is action we can take now, we have to acknowledge that this has become systemic.
'It's not just a few bad units. Up and down the country, maternity units are failing, hospitals are failing, trusts are failing, regulators are failing.
'There's too much obfuscation, too much passing the buck and giving lip service.'
Mr Streeting apologised on behalf of the NHS, having met families in Nottingham and around the country whose children have died or been injured.
Senior midwife Donna Ockenden is currently examining how hundreds of babies died or were injured in the care of Nottingham University Hospitals Trust.
Mr Streeting said: 'All of them have had to fight for truth and justice, they describe being ignored, gaslit, lied to, manipulated and damaged further by the inability for a trust to simply be honest with them that something has gone wrong.
'I want to say publicly how sorry I am, sorry for what the NHS has put them through, sorry for the way they've been treated since by the state and sorry that we haven't put this right yet, because these families are owed more than an apology. They're owed change, they're owed accountability and they're owed the truth.'
The Health Secretary said risk is 'considerably higher' than it should be for women and babies because of a 'crisis' in maternity and neo-natal services.
He said giving birth carries risk, but 'that risk is considerably higher than it should be because of the state of the crisis in our maternity and neonatal services.'
He added: 'Within the past 15 years, we've seen appalling scandals that blew the lid on issues ranging from care, safety, culture and oversight – Shrewsbury, Telford, East Kent, Nottingham.
'The last government responded with initiatives like Better Births in 2016 and the maternity transformation programme.
'But, despite improvements on some metrics, inequalities in maternal and neo-natal outcomes have become more visible, not less. The rate of late maternal deaths has been consistently rising.
'Babies of black ethnicity are twice as likely to be stillborn than babies of white ethnicity, and black women are still two to three times more likely to die during pregnancy or shortly after birth than white women.
'Tragically, that gap is closing slightly, but partly because more white women are dying in childbirth.'
Other high-profile scandals had deepened the public's mistrust in the state, Mr Streeting continued.
He said: 'From the Horizon Post Office scandal to the infected blood scandal, the degradation of responsibility and trust in our institutions is compounding a cynicism and malaise at the ability of British politics to deliver for people.
'This is a dangerous place for a country to be.
'If we do not admit the scale of the failure in maternity services, we're condemning ourselves to etching that mistrust deeper.
'If we cannot admit openly that we as institutions and as a state got this wrong, we'll never be able to fix it or rebuild that trust.
'Too many children have died because of state failure and I will not allow it to continue under my watch.'
The new investigation will consist of two parts.
The first will investigate trusts of greatest concern at the moment, including Leeds, Gloucester, Mid and South Essex and Sussex, 'to hold them to account for improvement', Mr Streeting said.
He added: 'I'm currently discussing with Leeds families the best way to grip the challenges brought to light in that trust by their campaigning, reports in the media and the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report, and I'll be ordering an investigation into nine specific cases identified by families in Sussex…'
The second part of the investigation will be a 'system-wide' look at maternity and neonatal care, uniting lessons from past maternity inquiries to create one 'clear set of actions' designed to improve national NHS care.
A National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by Mr Streeting, has also been set up, made up of experts and bereaved families.
The investigation will begin this summer and report back by December.
A new digital system will be rolled out to all maternity services by November to flag potential safety concerns in trusts.
An anti-discrimination programme to tackle inequalities in care for black, Asian, and other communities is also being launched.
Sir Jim Mackey, chief executive of NHS England, said: 'Despite the hard work of staff, too many women are experiencing unacceptable maternity care and families continue to be let down by the NHS when they need us most.
'This rapid national investigation must mark a line in the sand for maternity care – setting out one set of clear actions for NHS leaders to ensure high quality care for all.
'Transparency will be key to understanding variation and fixing poor care – by shining a spotlight on the areas of greatest failure we can hold failing trusts to account.
'Each year, over half a million babies are born under our care and maternity safety rightly impacts public trust in the NHS – so we must act immediately to improve outcomes for the benefit of mothers, babies, families and staff.'
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said maternity services are 'at, or even beyond, breaking point'.
RCM chief executive Gill Walton said: 'Every woman and family should leave maternity and neonatal services whole, happy and healthy.
'Yet we know that, for far too many, that isn't their experience.
'Systemic failings and a lack of attention to the warning signs have let those families down and let down the hardworking staff who are trying so hard to provide the care they deserve.
'Everyone involved in maternity services – the midwifery community, obstetricians, anaesthetists, sonographers and, of course, the women and families in their care – knows that maternity services are at, or even beyond, breaking point.
'This renewed focus and commitment by the Health Secretary to deliver change is welcome, and we will do everything we can to support him in doing so.'
Professor Ranee Thakar, president of the RCOG, said: 'The maternity workforce is on its knees, with many now leaving the profession.'
She said that 'for years, maternity units have had too few staff, too little time for training and lacked modern equipment and facilities, resulting in women and babies being harmed.'
She urged the Government to 'not to lose sight of funding and workforce shortages within this.'