Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust maternity and neonatal care is “inadequate” and has “significant shortfalls”, report finds

The Trust was placed under the CQC’s maternity safety support programme after serious concerns were raised about the quality of maternity care at the Trust following reports the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers in the past five years may have been prevented. 

After an investigation into services, the CQC graded both St James’ Hospital in Leeds and Leeds General Infirmary on a number of areas including how safe, caring, and well-led their maternity and neonatal services are. The independent health regulator found that when investigating the safety of maternity and neonatal services, people being treated at Leeds General Infirmary “were not safe” and “were at risk of avoidable harm”. They also found that St James’ Hospital’s maternity services “did not always have a culture of safety and learning”. 

The BBC reports that, during its December 2024 and January 2025 inspections of both hospitals, the CQC found official regulation breaches relating to risk management, safe environment, learning following incidents, infection prevention and control, medicines management and staffing. 

Areas of concern highlighted in the maternity and neonatal units at both hospitals included: 

• People being "not safe" and "at risk of avoidable harm" - while investigations into incidents, and points raised from these to enable learning, were not always evident 

• Babies and families not always being supported and treated with dignity and respect 

• Leadership being "below acceptable standard" and not supporting the delivery of high-quality care 

• Staff being reluctant to raise concerns and incidents - because "the trust had a blame culture" 

• Staff, despite being passionate about their work, struggling to provide their desired standard of care because of staffing issues 

Leigh Day medical negligence team represents a mother whose child needs round-the-clock care following a failure to review them properly during a recent labour. It is claimed the baby nearly died after their heart rate plummeted during their mother’s labour, but it wasn’t noticed because of a failure to monitor with a CTG. 

It is argued that if there had been immediate intervention by an obstetrician, the baby would have been delivered unharmed. Instead, they suffered the most severe of birth injuries. 

Maternity care at hospitals in Leeds has been a cause for concern for medical negligence lawyers at Leigh Day for some time who say those affected deserve answers.    

Leigh Day medical negligence partner Matthew Westlake is based at Leigh Day’s offices in Leeds city centre. He said:  

“The CQC’s reports into St James’ and Leeds General Infirmary is damning and highlights a number of areas where maternity and neonatal services are falling short and risk harming women and their babies.” 

“This is something that families across the region have been telling us for a long time and while it is good to see the CQC finally recognising these issues, for many it has come far too late. Urgent action is now needed to ensure the safety of everyone going through pregnancy and childbirth in Leeds.” 

Head of medical negligence at Leigh Day, Suzanne White, said: 

“The CQC’s report has found what families have known all along that maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals have serious shortcomings that can endanger mothers and their babies. I believe from my experience that they will be distressed and feel let down by this report. 

“What we have seen at Leeds Teaching Hospitals is not a one-off and concerns continue to be raised across the country about the standards of maternity and neonatal care. There needs to be a national inquiry to fully understand the crisis in maternity care. Another CQC report into an individual trust’s failings simply won’t get to the heart of this national crisis.” 

If you have concerns about the maternity care you have received, contact Leigh Day medical negligence team.