Health Secretary announces inquiry into NHS maternity services
The Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has today (23 June 2025) announced a ‘rapid’ national inquiry into NHS maternity services in England.
Posted on 23 June 2025
The inquiry will look at worst-performing maternity services in the country, as well as the wider maternity system, to create a national set of actions to ensure maternity care is safe and compassionate.
The announcement follows a series of Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports into maternity and neonatal care at individual NHS trusts which have identified significant shortfalls in the standard of care provided to mothers and their babies.
Last week, the care watchdog downgraded maternity services at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’ Hospital in Leeds to ‘inadequate’ following reports that the deaths of 56 babies and two mothers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust may have been preventable. The CQC found that mothers and their babies at the Trust were “at risk of avoidable harm”.
The inquiry will consist of two processes that will investigate up to 10 of the ‘most concerning’ maternity and neonatal units whilst undertaking a wider assessment of maternity and neonatal care to create a set of actions to improve the standard of care across the NHS. The inquiry is expected to report back by December 2025.
Alongside the inquiry, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which will be made up of a panel of experts and bereaved families.
In a statement, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: "For the past year, I have been meeting bereaved families from across the country who have lost babies or suffered serious harm during what should have been the most joyful time in their lives.
“What they have experienced is devastating – deeply painful stories of trauma, loss, and a lack of basic compassion – caused by failures in NHS maternity care that should never have happened. Their bravery in speaking out has made it clear: we must act – and we must act now.”
Head of medical negligence at Leigh Day, Suzanne White said: "Our clients have been telling us for years that maternity services are in crisis. Independent reports have highlighted alarming failures in a number of NHS Trusts that have been deemed to be putting the lives of mothers and their babies at risk.
"Standards of care on maternity units must improve, and we hope this inquiry can be that catalyst for change.
"Sadly, for our clients this inquiry comes too late, but we hope their voices will be listened to so that no other family has to face the devastating trauma and loss they have experienced as a result of poor maternity care."
Baby Emmy Russo died aged three days from a severe brain injury on 12 January 2024 at Addenbrookes’ Hospital, Cambridge, after being transferred from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Essex. A coroner concluded there were missed opportunities to expedite delivery by caesarean section, and had an earlier decision been made, on the balance of probabilities, Emmy would have survived.
The inquest heard that signs of foetal distress, including the presence of meconium and abnormal heart rate patterns on a CTG monitor, were not acted on with the urgency required. Expert medical witnesses criticised delays in decision-making, with one concluding there were “multiple opportunities” to offer delivery by caesarean and that the management of labour fell below an acceptable standard.
Bryony and Daniel Russo, Emmy’s parents, had pleaded for a caesarean section earlier in the day - requests that were reportedly dismissed. Emmy was eventually delivered in poor condition at Princess Alexandra Hospital and died in her father’s arms three days later.
Bryony Russo said:
"This inquiry is long overdue, but it is a vital and necessary step. Nothing will bring our baby girl Emmy back, and the pain of losing her in such a preventable way is something we carry every single day. But if our loss - and the losses of so many other families - can lead to meaningful change, then we owe it to our children to speak out.
"We were failed by a system that should have protected us. We trusted that our concerns would be listened to, that action would be taken when things started to go wrong. Instead, we were dismissed, ignored, and left to watch our baby suffer the consequences.
"The fact that Essex is reported to be one of the trusts being investigated speaks volumes. Families here have been raising the alarm for years. Now, the government must make sure this inquiry leads to real accountability, real transparency, and real reform - not more words, but actual change. No more families should have to endure what we have been through."
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Suzanne White
Suzanne White is head of the medical negligence team and has specialised in this area of law since qualifying in 1999.