Baroness Gohir
To ask His Majesty’s Government why they have not appointed a Maternity Commissioner; and what assessment they have made of calls to appoint such a Commissioner in (1) the report by Muslim Women’s Network UK Invisible—Maternity Experiences of Muslim Women from Racialised Minority Communities, published on 12 July 2022, (2) the report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma Listen to Mums: Ending the Postcode Lottery on Perinatal Care, published on 13 May 2024, and (3) the petition to the House of Commons on this topic by Louise Thompson and Theo Clarke.
Baroness Gohir (CB)
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and declare an interest that I am the CEO of the Muslim Women’s Network, whose report recommending a maternity commissioner is cited in the Question.
Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (Lab)
My Lords, while there are outstanding examples of care, I know that there are serious issues in maternity services. That is why this Government launched an independent national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal care, chaired by the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, which is expected to make recommendations this spring. Her interim report, published last Friday, reveals systemic, sustained and recurring failures in maternity and neonatal care. Due to the investigation’s ongoing work, there are currently no plans to appoint a maternity commissioner.
Baroness Gohir (CB)
My Lords, Louise Thompson and Theo Clarke are present today and I thank them for joining us. They started a petition several weeks ago asking the Government to appoint a maternity commissioner. That petition has now reached more than 146,000 signatories, sending a strong signal to the Government. Will the Government commit to meeting them and me, once the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, has concluded her report, to discuss this issue further, and what are they doing to tackle racism in maternity services?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I welcome them to the House. Our sympathies go out to them, and I praise their bravery in the work they have been doing to highlight their own circumstances and, importantly, those of others. I want to be absolutely clear: the Government were faced with around 740 recommendations from different reports over the years, which is why the review has been called by the Secretary of State. The recommendations that will come from that very soon will lead to an action plan delivered by a national task force chaired by the Secretary of State himself, which shows the seriousness with which he takes this situation. We want to deliver systemic change. I know that many parents have made representations to the Secretary of State, and it is very important that the voices of women in particular are heard in this debate. I look forward to the action plan when it comes forward.
Baroness Walmsley (LD)
My Lords, tackling staffing issues in maternity really must be a priority. I know that the workforce plan and 10-year plan are looking at staffing and leadership in maternity, but the matter is critical, because, last week, the Royal College of Midwives issued the results of a survey of newly qualified midwives, 31% of whom could not find a post. There is something going wrong between the availability of fully qualified people and the positions that they need to be able to take up to serve women. Are the Government considering population changes and the needs of maternity services across the country?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The considerations that the noble Baroness raises are pertinent. Through the 10-year plan and the workforce plan, we need to make sure that we have the right people in the right place. She raised the issue of new starters wanting to come into the profession, but we also have a huge issue with retention that we have to take very seriously. That is why the Government are committed to intense training and raising awareness of all the issues that, sadly, lead to maternal deaths and exacerbate morbidities. This is a very serious issue. Staff are pivotal, and the Government are working hard to make sure that we address these issues.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, is there any evidence whatever that appointment of a commissioner will necessarily improve a service? It seems to me that the NHS has lots of problems and if we start appointing commissioners for every one of those problems, we will have a regiment of commissioners.
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
As always, I thank my noble friend for his question. He raises a very serious point: how many experts can we have in this space? That is why the review and the task force will take these requests forward. Many different requests have come forward over, I have to say, the many years that there have been problems in these services. This is a serious moment, and we have to make sure that whatever we bring in leads to action and to change and that vast improvements are made as quickly as possible.
Lord Kamall (Con)
My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Watts, said, when there is a problem in healthcare, there is often a call for a commissioner to be appointed, but Governments are often reluctant to do so for fear of creating whole new bureaucracies and all the recommendations of the human resources departments. Given that a number of reports have recommended a commissioner, can the Minister tell us, were the Government not to appoint a commissioner, who would be responsible for holding the whole system, particularly maternity care, to account? Also, who could be a voice for patients?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The noble Lord gets to the point of what the taskforce will be doing. It would be wrong of me to try to pre-empt the outcomes and recommendations that come forward. As I have said before, right through this work, the voices of families and women in particular must be paramount. I am delighted that the Secretary of State has personally met representatives from around the country and is taking a very hands-on role to make sure that we get the right outcome.
Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Amos, herself said:
“I do not understand why change has been so slow”.
Can the Minister set out with a little more clarity the timeline for the national taskforce to meet and produce its own set of recommendations and, crucially, when families can expect to see those recommendations implemented?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
The first meeting of the taskforce is imminent. Obviously, it ties in with the review publishing its final recommendations and making sure that the right people are in the room and that they have the right call to evidence to move forward. As I have said, pace, action and delivery are fundamental to this work. Families across the country have suffered for too long and we are determined to take action that will help in this area.
Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)
My Lords, one of the problems that is faced—and it is not confined to maternity services but has been seen to be fairly acute within them—is a form of postcode lottery within the health service; we have good practice and the best practice in some areas, but some other areas which are maybe only a few miles away do not provide that. While we wait with anticipation for the Amos review, what actions are the Government taking to drive consistency of delivery within the NHS?
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
This comes to the absolute centre of the problem. The different health structures around the country represent very different communities and it is essential that those health services are tailored to meet the needs of their communities. The inequalities, for example, and the difference in maternal death figures between ethnic-minority backgrounds speak to the point that we must make sure that the staff working in those areas are clear about the challenges that are faced. I am afraid that practice has not been good enough in this area, but consistency and oversight—making sure that if there are problems, they are flagged and rapid reviews can go in straightaway to deal with them—will be essential.
Baroness Manzoor (Con)
My Lords, the Minister is a Yorkshire woman, as am I, and she will know that Leeds general hospital, one of the biggest teaching hospitals in the UK, has had dreadful maternity services and a review was meant to be established. There still is no chair for that review. What is happening in relation to that? If that is the pace of change that we are going to see, it does not bode well for the future.
Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)
I start by declaring an interest: I was born in one of the hospitals there and three of my Leeds-based grandchildren have been born there relatively recently. Of course, it is of concern, particularly for the country; I think it is the largest teaching hospital in Europe. I want to reassure the noble Baroness that the parents have been down to visit the Secretary of State in the past week, and on their mind was exactly the issue she raises about the review and who will chair it. I can tell noble Lords across the House that this is being taken very seriously, and they will be kept in the loop on how it progresses.