Failing maternity services leads to nation-wide inquiry

• Wes Streeting has ordered a national inquiry into failing NHS maternity and neonatal services
• The review will start this summer, focusing first on the worst-performing units
• A second phase will examine the entire system and propose national improvements
• The inquiry will tackle racial inequalities and maternity mortality disparities

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has commissioned a nation-wide inquiry due to the rise in the number of failing maternity and neonatal services in the country.

NHS trusts such as Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford, East Kent, Nottingham and Leeds are some of the names on the worst-performing list.

The decision was made after Streeting’s meeting with the parents who lost their infants in the recent maternity scandals associated with few NHS trusts.

“We must act now. The investigation would make sure these families get the truth and the accountability they deserve,” he said.

The health secretary apologised to the victims on behalf of the NHS. "No parent or baby is ever let down again" he added.

He commented that majority of the NHS births are safe and their staff are sincere, yet there is an unrecognised error happening in the system since last year.

The investigation will commence this summer and the report will be submitted in December this year.

The investigation is to take place in two parts – first with an urgent inquiry in the top 10 under-performing units and providing quick answers for the distressed families. Apart from University Hospitals Sussex and Leeds Teaching Hospitals, other units are yet to be confirmed.

Second part of the inquiry will conduct a system-wide look at the maternity and neonatal care in the country to create a national set of action to improve further NHS maternity services.

As per the recent national data, the maternity mortality rate of black and Asian women is soaring compared to white women.

Therefore, an anti-discrimination programme for the welfare of black, Asian and other under-privileged communities is planned as well.

Dr Clea Harmer, chief executive of the baby loss charity Sands, called the investigation "much-needed and long-overdue" and stressed that it needed to lead to “systemic change”.