Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many independent inquiries into maternity care have been conducted by NHS England in the last 20 years; what the key recommendations of those reviews were; and how many of those recommendations have been implemented.

There have been four independent inquiries into maternity and neonatal services provided at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, published in 2015, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published in 2020 and 2022, and East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, published in 2022. There is also an on-going inquiry into maternity care provided at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, expected to publish in June 2026.

These reviews have uncovered issues at both a local and national level related to failing to listen to women and families, staffing, failing to learn from errors, lack of leadership, compassionate care and teamworking.

These inquiries jointly have approximately 130 recommendations aimed at various areas of the system. The Morecambe Bay report had 44 recommendations in total; 18 recommendations were specifically for the trust, all of which have been implemented, and 26 recommendations were aimed at the wider National Health Service, the majority of which have been addressed and implemented.

The Ockenden review at Shrewsbury and Telford had three key asks for my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, 15 immediate and essential actions to improve maternity care and safety across England and 60 local recommendations for the trust. The inquiry into East Kent had eight recommendations across four key action areas for NHS England, the Government and wider system and one additional recommendation for the trust itself. Most of the remaining recommendations, along with those from other reports, were addressed in NHS England’s Three-year Delivery Plan for maternity and neonatal services, published in 2023, which sets national measures to make care safer, more personalised and more equitable.