Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said “we must act now” as he announced a national investigation into maternity care in England.
The “rapid” inquiry will urgently look at the worst-performing maternity and neonatal services in the country, including Leeds, Sussex, Gloucester, and Mid and South Essex.
Streeting has met parents who have lost babies in a series of maternity scandals at some NHS trusts and said the investigation would “make sure these families get the truth and the accountability they deserve”.
It will begin this summer and report back by December 2025.
Making the announcement on Monday, Streeting apologised on behalf of the NHS to those families who had suffered avoidable harm.
It comes after a series of maternity scandals, such as Morecambe Bay, East Kent, Shrewsbury and Telford and Nottingham, which BBC News has reported on extensively.
Streeting said the review would involve the victims of maternity scandals, giving families a voice into how the inquiry is run.
He said he wants to ensure “no parent or baby is ever let down again”.
“I know nobody wants better for women and babies than the thousands of NHS midwives, obstetricians, maternity and neonatal staff, and that the vast majority of births are safe and without incident, but it’s clear something is going wrong,” he said.
“For the past year, I have been meeting bereaved families from across the country who have lost babies or suffered serious harm during what should have been the most joyful time in their lives.
“What they have experienced is devastating – deeply painful stories of trauma, loss, and a lack of basic compassion – caused by failures in NHS maternity care that should never have happened,” Streeting said.
“Their bravery in speaking out has made it clear: we must act – and we must act now.”
The investigation will consist of two parts. The first will urgently investigate up to 10 of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units, to give affected families answers as quickly as possible. The identify of these units has yet to be decided.
The second will undertake a system-wide look at maternity and neonatal care, bringing together lessons from past inquiries to create a national set of actions to improve care across every NHS maternity service.
An anti-discrimination programme to tackle inequalities in care for black, Asian and other underserved communities is also being planned.
The announcement comes after a series of critical reports into maternity care over the past decade.
- 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 lessons.
- In March 2022 an investigation into services at the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust found that more than 200 mothers and babies could have survived with better care.
- Then, in October that year, a review into maternity services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS trust found that at least 45 babies might have survived if they had been given proper treatment.
- And an ongoing review into the maternity care provided by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS trust, due to be completed next year, is set to be the biggest yet, with around 2,500 cases being examined.
- Meanwhile, an annual review in 2024 of units by inspectors at the Care Quality Commission found not a single one of the 131 units inspected received the top outstanding rating for providing safe care.
- Families in several areas, including Sussex, Leeds and Oxford, have also been calling for local investigations into their maternity services.
Dr Clea Harmer, chief executive of the baby loss charity Sands, said the national investigation was “much-needed and long-overdue”.
She said there needed to be “lasting systemic change”.
Anne Kavanagh, from Irwin Mitchell solicitors, which has represented a number of the families affected, said the scandals “all pointed to deep-rooted problems nationally” so the announcement by the government was welcome.
She said the national investigation needed to lead to decisive action as “sadly many recommendations from previous reports and investigations had not been fully implemented, missing crucial opportunities to improve patient safety and learn from mistakes”.
