The health secretary has made a U-turn over who will lead an independent inquiry into \u00ab\u00a0repeated maternity failures\u00a0\u00bb at an NHS trust.<\/p>\n
Wes Streeting has appointed Donna Ockenden, following a campaign by bereaved and harmed families, to lead the review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS Trust.<\/p>\n
Ockenden, a senior midwife, is currently leading the maternity review at Nottingham, which is the largest of its kind, examining about 2,500 cases of harm to mothers and babies.<\/p>\n
In January 2025 a BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers at the Leeds trust over the past five years may have been prevented.<\/p>\n
Streeting first announced the inquiry into the West Yorkshire trust in October 2025, saying it was required to understand what had \u00ab\u00a0gone so catastrophically wrong\u00a0\u00bb at the maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital.<\/p>\n
Days later in a BBC radio interview, Streeting announced that Ockenden would not be the chair of the Leeds review.<\/p>\n
In February, families and MPs urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to \u00ab\u00a0intervene and appoint\u00a0\u00bb the senior midwife immediately to head the Leeds inquiry.<\/p>\n
Streeting also recently met some of families affected by the deaths, who said they had lost confidence in him.<\/p>\n
Amarjit Matharoo, whose daughter Asees was stillborn in January 2024, said it \u00ab\u00a0has been a long, drawn-out, and emotionally draining process to get the assurances that this investigation will be handled with the appropriate methodology and care that it needs\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Matharoo said they were \u00ab\u00a0grateful that Wes Streeting has listened carefully\u00a0\u00bb and felt \u00ab\u00a0very lucky\u00a0\u00bb to have Ockenden appointed.<\/p>\n
Streeting thanked families for \u00ab\u00a0their openness in recent discussions\u00a0\u00bb and said he was \u00ab\u00a0delighted to appoint someone so trusted\u00a0\u00bb by bereaved and harmed families.<\/p>\n
Ockenden said she \u00ab\u00a0commends the secretary of state\u00a0\u00bb for \u00ab\u00a0making the right decision from the families’ perspective\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Families have been very clear for a very long time that their request was for me to chair their independent maternity services at Leeds.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0They have met with the secretary of state on a number of occasions, and in the last meeting that I believe went on for several hours… he listened very carefully and came back to them and said ‘actually this is the right decision’.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0So I am pleased with that but I do recognise, as we all will, that it has taken a very long time to get to here today,\u00a0\u00bb she said.<\/p>\n
Although the full terms of reference for the review are yet to be agreed, the government said it expected it \u00ab\u00a0to involve case reviews of stillbirths, neonatal deaths and serious injuries, hypoxic injuries and maternal deaths\u00a0\u00bb between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2025.<\/p>\n
The review will operate on an opt-out basis, with cases that meet the terms of reference automatically included unless families choose otherwise. Clinical case reviews are expected to begin in August.<\/p>\n
Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona Grace died in 2020, said: \u00ab\u00a0We are calling on all those who have been harmed, or whose babies have been harmed, to reach out and engage with the review.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Whether it was 11 years ago or 11 months ago, your experience matters. Your baby’s life and wellbeing matters, as does yours.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
The BBC’s original investigation featured testimony from whistleblowers who claimed the maternity units were unsafe, despite being rated \u00ab\u00a0good\u00a0\u00bb at the time by the body responsible for inspecting NHS hospitals, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).<\/p>\n
The maternity units were downgraded by the CQC to \u00ab\u00a0inadequate\u00a0\u00bb in June 2025, after unannounced inspections raised concerns that women and babies were \u00ab\u00a0at risk of avoidable harm\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Inspectors also highlighted a \u00ab\u00a0blame culture\u00a0\u00bb at the trust, which resulted in staff being reluctant to raise concerns and incidents.<\/p>\n
In a statement Brendan Brown, Chief Executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologised to families whose babies died or were harmed, and said they welcomed the announcement of a chair being appointed.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are absolutely committed to working openly, honestly and transparently with Donna Ockenden and the review team, and with families who have used our services\u00a0\u00bb, Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I would also like to reassure families in Leeds who will be using our services currently, that significant improvements are already under way in our maternity and neonatal services, following reviews by the Care Quality Commission and NHS England,\u00a0\u00bb he added.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the health secretary also said Ockenden was an \u00ab\u00a0outstanding advocate for families whose voices haven’t always been heard\u00a0\u00bb and that \u00ab\u00a0her leadership will bring us closer to lasting change so desperately needed in Leeds\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Do you have more information about this story?<\/p>\n
You can reach Divya directly and securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +44 7961 390 325, by email at divya.talwar@bbc.co.uk or her Instagram account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The health secretary has made a U-turn over who will lead an independent inquiry into \u00ab\u00a0repeated maternity failures\u00a0\u00bb at an NHS trust. Wes Streeting has appointed Donna Ockenden, following a campaign by bereaved and harmed families, to lead the review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS Trust. Ockenden, a senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9876\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placedesnations.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}