Families affected by maternity care failures who have been calling for a statutory national public inquiry into England’s maternity care have been left disappointed as Health Secretary Wes Streeting recently announced a rapid review of maternity cases at fourteen NHS trusts instead.
Instead of investigating the role of NHS regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission and NHS Resolution – the health service’s insurance and litigation arm, the review will only focus on the identified NHS Trusts and the clinicians who work in them. Critics of the rapid review format said they believed the entire system was in crisis, which meant that a complete system approach was needed.
Help families to get justice
The review will be chaired by Baroness Amos and will conclude in Spring 2026, with interim findings available around Christmas. Baroness Amos has been charged with driving improvements after systemic problems in England’s maternity and neonatal care dating back more than 15 years. She said she hoped that the review will help families “get the justice that they want and that they deserve”.
As well as examining the experience of families and staff, it will also look to understand and remedy why hundreds of recommendations from previous maternity inquiries, namely Morecambe Bay, East Kent, and Shrewsbury and Telford, have not led to sustained improvements.
The Department of Health said that the trusts had been chosen based on a range of factors. These includes geographical coverage, demographic mix, trust type, variation in cases, and family feedback. The fourteen NHS trusts are:
- Blackpool Teaching Hospitals
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals
- University Hospitals of Leicester
- Leeds Teaching Hospitals
- Sandwell and West Birmingham
- Gloucestershire Hospitals
- Yeovil District Hospital
- Oxford University Hospital
- University Hospitals Sussex
- Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals
- Queen Elizabeth, Kings Lynn
- University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay
- East Kent Hospitals
- Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital
Driving improvements
Rachael Flanagan, Head of Medical Negligence at Alsters Kelley said. “Every pregnant woman should have access to safe, effective and truly personalised maternity care. We hope that this latest review will put affected families at its heart, not be rushed and be capable of driving the improvements needed to ensure high-quality and safe maternity and neonatal care across England.”
Rachael continued. “Both myself, and my colleagues, have a huge amount of experience when it comes to failings in maternity and newborn baby care across England. Our approach is personal, sensitive, and caring. We understand you may have already suffered harm in the hands of clinicians you trusted, which is why we put our clients at the heart of everything we do. With years of experience, we aim to minimise the impact of the clinical negligence claim process and efficiently secure the compensation you may be entitled to.”
Free initial meeting for support and advice
If you have any concerns about the maternity treatment you, or someone you know, has received and would like help or advice, please contact Rachael Flanagan on 01926 356030 or email rachael.flanagan@alsterskelley.com.
We offer a free appointment where we can support and guide you in the right direction. And thanks to our network of offices covering Banbury, Coventry, Leamington, Nuneaton, Stratford-upon-Avon and Southam we are very accessible too.
Call now 01926 356 030 to arrange a free consultation with one of our experienced medical negligence lawyers at any of our six offices.
You can also join us at our Medical Negligence free drop-in sessions every third Wednesday of the month from our Nuneaton office.
Rachael Flanagan
Rachael’s role is to represent Claimant’s in Medical Negligence and Personal Injury claims and help her clients achieve the level of compensation they deserve. Rachael is also committed to ensure her client’s receive appropriate rehabilitation.
rachael.flanagan@alsterskelley.com