Latest news with #BaronessAmos
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Baroness Amos to lead NHS maternity and neonatal investigation
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has welcomed the selection of Baroness Valerie Amos to lead the investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care, adding it is 'vital' the review gets under way quickly. Baroness Amos was selected by Health Secretary Wes Streeting after bereaved families expressed a preference for someone with distance from the NHS who is able to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the role, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Mr Streeting has been meeting bereaved and harmed families who have been let down by maternity and neonatal services across the country, including in some of the worst affected trusts, DHSC added. In June, he announced that a national investigation into 'systemic' failures in NHS maternity care had been launched by the Government after families were 'gaslit' in their search for the truth. Baroness Amos is master of University College, Oxford, and was a UK Government minister and a senior official at the United Nations. Mr Streeting said: 'I have been appalled by the many harrowing stories I've heard from mothers and fathers let down by the NHS. 'Families asked for fresh eyes, independence and compassion – and that's why I've appointed Baroness Amos. Valerie has an outstanding record of leadership and driving change, nationally and internationally. She will work closely with families to uncover the truth, confront problems and drive the improvements needed so every woman and baby receives safe, high-quality care. 'Through our Plan for Change, we will rebuild the NHS to ensure no family suffers like this again.' Baroness Amos said: 'I will carry the weight of the loss suffered by families with me throughout this investigation. I hope that we will be able to provide the answers that families are seeking and support the NHS in identifying areas of care requiring urgent reform.' The investigation will look at up to 10 services in the country. It will also review the maternity and neonatal system, bringing together the findings of past reviews into one national set of actions, the DHSC said. It will begin work this summer and produce an initial set of national recommendations by December. The 10 maternity and neonatal units will be decided by Baroness Amos and her team, alongside the terms of reference of the investigation, which are being developed with families who have experiences of maternity and neonatal care, including in Leeds, Sussex and Nottingham, the DHSC added. The investigation is separate from the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which will be made up of a panel of experts and families, and chaired by Mr Streeting. Gill Walton, chief executive of the RCM, said: 'We are pleased to hear of the appointment of Baroness Amos as chair of the rapid review. She has a reputation for taking a thoughtful and strategic approach and we welcome her fresh insight into maternity and neonatal safety. 'It is absolutely vital, though, that this review gets under way quickly. When he announced it in June, we welcomed Wes Streeting's commitment to publishing the review by Christmas, a promise he repeated at the Progress in Partnership summit on maternity and neonatal safety last month. 'However, we are already halfway through August, with no terms of reference, no sense of the trusts who are likely to be part of the review or no clarity on how the review will be conducted. 'Every woman and family should leave maternity and neonatal services whole, happy and healthy, and every member of maternity staff should start and end their shift knowing they have provided safe, good-quality care. 'At the moment, that simply isn't the case. Previous reviews and countless Care Quality Commission reports have flagged the same the systemic failings that are at the heart of the issues facing maternity and neonatal care issues time and time again: unsafe staffing, poor workplace cultures, and not listening to women. 'In spite of that, there has been no forward movement. Wes Streeting promised to change that. Thousands of midwives and maternity support workers, and the whole of the maternity community, are desperate for him to keep that promise and deliver the change we all want to see.' The RCM has also urged the review to look at examples of good maternity care, as well as where services are not meeting standards of care.
The Independent
a day ago
- Health
- The Independent
Baroness Amos to lead NHS maternity and neonatal investigation
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has welcomed the selection of Baroness Valerie Amos to lead the investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care, adding it is 'vital' the review gets under way quickly. Baroness Amos was selected by Health Secretary Wes Streeting after bereaved families expressed a preference for someone with distance from the NHS who is able to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the role, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said. Mr Streeting has been meeting bereaved and harmed families who have been let down by maternity and neonatal services across the country, including in some of the worst affected trusts, DHSC added. In June, he announced that a national investigation into 'systemic' failures in NHS maternity care had been launched by the Government after families were 'gaslit' in their search for the truth. Baroness Amos is master of University College, Oxford, and was a UK Government minister and a senior official at the United Nations. Mr Streeting said: 'I have been appalled by the many harrowing stories I've heard from mothers and fathers let down by the NHS. ' Families asked for fresh eyes, independence and compassion – and that's why I've appointed Baroness Amos. Valerie has an outstanding record of leadership and driving change, nationally and internationally. She will work closely with families to uncover the truth, confront problems and drive the improvements needed so every woman and baby receives safe, high-quality care. 'Through our Plan for Change, we will rebuild the NHS to ensure no family suffers like this again.' Baroness Amos said: 'I will carry the weight of the loss suffered by families with me throughout this investigation. I hope that we will be able to provide the answers that families are seeking and support the NHS in identifying areas of care requiring urgent reform.' The investigation will look at up to 10 services in the country. It will also review the maternity and neonatal system, bringing together the findings of past reviews into one national set of actions, the DHSC said. It will begin work this summer and produce an initial set of national recommendations by December. The 10 maternity and neonatal units will be decided by Baroness Amos and her team, alongside the terms of reference of the investigation, which are being developed with families who have experiences of maternity and neonatal care, including in Leeds, Sussex and Nottingham, the DHSC added. The investigation is separate from the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which will be made up of a panel of experts and families, and chaired by Mr Streeting. Gill Walton, chief executive of the RCM, said: 'We are pleased to hear of the appointment of Baroness Amos as chair of the rapid review. She has a reputation for taking a thoughtful and strategic approach and we welcome her fresh insight into maternity and neonatal safety. 'It is absolutely vital, though, that this review gets under way quickly. When he announced it in June, we welcomed Wes Streeting's commitment to publishing the review by Christmas, a promise he repeated at the Progress in Partnership summit on maternity and neonatal safety last month. 'However, we are already halfway through August, with no terms of reference, no sense of the trusts who are likely to be part of the review or no clarity on how the review will be conducted. 'Every woman and family should leave maternity and neonatal services whole, happy and healthy, and every member of maternity staff should start and end their shift knowing they have provided safe, good-quality care. 'At the moment, that simply isn't the case. Previous reviews and countless Care Quality Commission reports have flagged the same the systemic failings that are at the heart of the issues facing maternity and neonatal care issues time and time again: unsafe staffing, poor workplace cultures, and not listening to women. 'In spite of that, there has been no forward movement. Wes Streeting promised to change that. Thousands of midwives and maternity support workers, and the whole of the maternity community, are desperate for him to keep that promise and deliver the change we all want to see.' The RCM has also urged the review to look at examples of good maternity care, as well as where services are not meeting standards of care.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Maternity review chair chosen, but family concerns remain
The former diplomat Baroness Valerie Amos has been chosen to lead a rapid review of maternity care in a letter to families who have been failed by poor maternity care, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said she "brings a wealth of experience through her senior leadership roles in national and international organisations".The other members of the panel have not been named, amid significant concern from some families that those proposed are not independent of the has been no announcement of which NHS Trusts will have their maternity services investigated by the review. The Health Secretary said up to 10 areas could be examined. The BBC has spent more than a decade speaking to bereaved and harmed families and gathering evidence of failing maternity services in a number of NHS Trusts, including: Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury & Telford, East Kent, Nottingham and Streeting announced his intention to conduct a review of maternity care in June and had hoped the work would be underway by now and completed by the end of his letter, Mr Streeting told the families more work was needed on appointing the panel of experts who will support Baroness Amos, as well as on the terms of reference of the review. Some families have contacted Mr Streeting in recent weeks, expressing huge reservations about the people the Department of Health and Social Care had proposed to sit on the in both Leeds and Sussex have repeatedly requested that the senior midwife Donna Ockenden lead their inquiries - no decision on that has been made either. Ms Ockenden is currently leading a review of maternity care in Nottingham, due to be completed next year, with around 2,500 cases being elsewhere have found poor maternity care has led to preventable deaths:In March 2015 an investigation found mothers and babies died unnecessarily at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust between 2004 and 2013 - the report described a dysfunctional culture with substandard clinical skills, poor risk assessments and a repeated failure to properly investigate cases and learn March 2022 an investigation into services at the Shrewsbury & Telford NHS Trust found more than 200 mothers and babies could have survived with better in October that year, a review into maternity services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS trust found at least 45 babies might have survived if they had been given proper treatment.
