'Standards alone are not enough': Leeds bereaved families call for national inquiry into maternity care

In Leeds, the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented.

The Leeds bereaved families group has urged Yvette Cooper to announce a national public inquiry into the maternity scandal, saying that “standards alone are not enough” to fix the crisis.

The Health Secretary has announced that national standards for maternity care would be introduced, which will be drawn up by the Government’s special maternity taskforce.

She said these will be measured by patient experience and will instil an early warning system to signal underperformance.

A recent review into maternity care, led by Baroness Valerie Amos, called for urgent change to the way women and families are treated, after it concluded families have suffered from repeated failures in NHS care.

In Leeds, senior midwife Donna Ockenden has started work on the terms of reference for an independent review into maternity services at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Her previous probe into Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust found that around 520 mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or died due to “deeply embedded systemic failures” at the “toxic” hospital trust.

In Leeds, a BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is representing more than 50 families in action against the trust.

Lawyer Katie Warner, who is representing parents in the Leeds Maternity Families Group, said this could be the tip of the iceberg.

However, the parents want Ms Cooper to go further and announce a national public inquiry into maternity services.

In a statement, shared with The Yorkshire Post, they said: “We welcome the Health Secretary's decision to give the maternity taskforce a clear objective by reintroducing long-overdue national maternity standards, but standards alone are not enough and must be accompanied by a national statutory public inquiry into maternity services.

“Families need urgent action to make maternity care safer now, and the introduction of national standards must lead to tangible improvements in care.

“However, only a statutory public inquiry can uncover the true scale of avoidable harm already caused, and why similar failings continue to emerge across NHS Trusts.

“We are calling on the Health Secretary to listen to bereaved and harmed families and commit to a public inquiry, to expose the truth of the crisis, ensure accountability and deliver lasting change, so that other families do not have to experience the devastation that we have.”

In an interview with The Guardian, Ms Cooper said she wanted to “make it a personal crusade to put the cradle back at the heart of the NHS, and to have much more focus around maternity and child health”.

The Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley MP, who was a health minister under the Tony Blair government and was the first British government minister to take maternity leave, went on: “It feels incomprehensible that we could be in this situation in the 2020s.

“I went back to look at some of the things that we’d done 25 years ago.

“And what did strike me was how much we were talking then about women and families being at the centre of care and about listening to women’s views.

“It is a really shocking and distressing feeling that has somehow been lost in some of the maternity units where actually it should be the central issue. I had a direct interest. I was pregnant at the time.

“But I am really struck by it now, just feeling like there is this big gap in the priorities that the NHS has been focused on.

“The thing that struck me most was the sense of women feeling they weren’t being listened to … and I think that probably does go back to issues around culture.”

Brendan Brown, chief executive Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I am deeply sorry to families whose babies have sadly died or who have been harmed when receiving care in our hospitals.

“I know apologies are not enough, and we are absolutely committed to working openly, honestly and transparently with Donna Ockenden and the review team, and with families who have used our services. We hope this review will provide families with the answers they deserve.

“Significant improvements are already underway in our maternity and neonatal services; we know there is much more to do, and we are committed to improve and ensure that every family receives safe, compassionate, inclusive, and high-quality care.”