National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation

Baroness Blackstone Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackstone (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists board of trustees. The RCOG desperately wants to see an improvement in the services that mothers and children are getting in maternity. I do not know whether the Minister is aware that some 68% of all clinicians are working hours way beyond their contracts, and 25% of them are talking about leaving the profession within five years because of a fear of burnout. Obviously, everything must be done to prevent that happening. Does the Minister agree that workforce planning is central here, including better integration between the work of doctors in maternity and midwives? There should not be barriers between the two; they should be working in units together and dealing with high-risk cases. In that context, will some decision be made pretty soon about when a redesigned workforce tool will be available for obstetricians in particular? They desperately want to see that as soon as possible and do not want to have to wait maybe as long as a year before an action plan is completed.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My noble friend allows me to say how grateful we are to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for its continuing work, as we are grateful to our many partners who are committed to driving through change. We are working particularly closely with RCOG in developing routes forward. I agree with the points that my noble friend made. Most NHS maternity staff—and other staff, but we are talking about maternity staff—are providing exceptional care. It must be very difficult for them to hear about and read these findings. Our job is to support them with the right culture and leadership, and to equip them and support them to listen and learn. It is important that we have the right skills mix among consultants, to whom my noble friend refers, and retain them, because they are absolutely key. We will continue to work with RCOG accordingly.