(Irwin Mitchell Solicitors)
The Health Secretary has agreed to hold a full independent investigation into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH). The decision comes after months of campaigning by families whose children have been harmed or died because of poor care. Streeting met with families several times over recent months, and says he was “shocked” by the bereaved families’ stories and the “repeated maternity failures” that were “made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust”.
On 15 September, Leeds was confirmed as one of 14 maternity units in England to be rapidly reviewed as part of the government’s national maternity and neonatal investigation, chaired by Baroness Valerie Amos. Disappointed families argued that the speed and scale of the exercise could “not scratch the surface of the front-line care failings”. They subsequently met with Streeting to try to persuade him of the need for a full inquiry. Campaigners Fiona Winser-Ramm and Daniel Ramm, whose daughter Aliona Winser-Ramm died as a result of a “number of gross failures of the most basic nature” at Leeds say they are “hugely relieved and deeply grateful to Wes Streeting for listening to us and agreeing to hold an independent inquiry.” They believe that a full inquiry will “finally break the cycle of repeated errors and inadequate leadership” at Leeds, and help to “prevent further deaths and injuries to mothers and babies.”
The problems at Leeds date back more than a decade, according to families. After years of concerns being raised by families and staff, maternity services at LTH were downgraded to “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission in June 2025. In a damning report, the hospitals regulator said that “immediate improvements” were needed and that some staff were reluctant to raise concerns because of a perceived “blame culture” at the trust.
In January, a BBC investigation suggested that between 2019 and 2024, deaths of at least 56 babies, and two mothers occurred at LTH. Moreover, LTH is an outlier in terms of perinatal mortality (the combined rate of stillbirths and neonatal deaths), despite running one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe. In the most recent data available (2023), published by MBRRACE-UK, the trust had the worst extended perinatal death rate in the country when compared with similar hospitals. “This stark contradiction between scale and safety standards is precisely why I’m taking this exceptional step to order an urgent inquiry in Leeds,” Streeting said. “We have to give the families the honesty and accountability they deserve and end the normalisation of deaths of women and babies in maternity units,” he added. The trust has been rated “red” – where death rates are at least 5 per cent higher than average when compared with similar trusts – for each of the seven years the data have been collected.
In the immediate term, Leeds will remain part of the government’s rapid review. Who will lead the new Leeds maternity inquiry has not been decided. Families are calling for it to be chaired by former midwife Donna Ockenden, who is currently leading a review into maternity care provided by Nottingham. Families say the health secretary has told them that the terms of reference used for the Nottingham review will be the starting point for the Leeds inquiry. Only three other trusts have had their maternity services subject to full investigation: Morecambe Bay, East Kent and Shrewsbury and Telford.
The announcement of a separate investigation into Leeds’s maternity care is likely to prompt further questions. How might families and campaigners let down by care at other trusts respond? Will they too argue that a rapid investigation cannot uncover the breadth and depth of problems at their local maternity units? How will the government respond if the rapid reviews point to the need for a deep-dive investigation into several more maternity units across England?
The government has argued that the Amos investigation is designed to deliver results faster than a public national inquiry could, so that changes to maternity care can be made immediately. But already there is disquiet at what these rapid reviews can hope to unearth, with some campaigners and bereaved families branding them “truncated and tokenistic”. In draft documents shared with families on 14 October, Amos explained that individual cases will not be reviewed as part of the investigation because of the “timescale” involved and the fact that the investigation has been commissioned to look at systemic issues. Individual bereaved and harmed family members may be interviewed, however. Each trust included in the rapid review will receive a two-day site visit from Amos.
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Today’s confirmation of a full inquiry into LTH is evidence of a government and health secretary that is listening to families. It seems unlikely that this will be the last we hear of changes and announcements regarding England’s failing maternity system.
[Further reading: Bereaved families demand the government changes “perverse” scrutiny of stillbirths]
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