Health Secretary Wes Streeting is facing calls from a leading maternity expert to prioritise implementing long-known solutions over launching another nationwide public inquiry into NHS failings.
Known Problems, Slow Progress
Mr Streeting stated this week he was ‘keeping open the option’ of a wide-ranging probe due to ‘widespread and endemic’ problems in hospital labour wards. However, senior midwife Donna Ockenden, who led major reviews into baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said the core issues have been understood for over a decade with little advancement.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Ockenden outlined the persistent challenges: ‘They are workforce, they are training, they are funding, education and culture. That hasn't changed, I don't think, since at least 2010.’ She argued that acting sooner would have left services in a far better state today.
Essential Actions Yet to be Fully Implemented
In her landmark 2022 report, Ms Ockenden set out 22 ‘immediate and essential actions’ to improve safety following the Shrewsbury and Telford scandal. Now reviewing services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, she described progress since then as ‘very disappointing’.
‘I think that we must now move to the implementation of these key issues,’ she insisted, stressing the need to move beyond analysis. A separate rapid review of national maternity care is being led by Labour peer Baroness Amos, but Ms Ockenden suggested it is examining already well-documented territory.
Families' Pleas for Change
While some affected families are demanding a full public inquiry, Ms Ockenden expressed deep sympathy for their position but emphasised action. ‘I have huge respect and an enormous amount of time for the families who are calling for a public inquiry... They are often families who have suffered the most appalling life-changing harm,’ she said.
She highlighted their ongoing anguish, noting they often ask ‘what's going on?’ years after their trauma, driven by a desire to prevent others from suffering similarly. Her comments underscore the urgent need for tangible improvements in NHS maternity care to restore public trust and ensure patient safety.
