NHS Maternity and Neonatal Services

Wes Streeting Excerpts

Monday 23rd June 2025 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)]

I am today announcing that I will be launching a national, independent investigation into maternity and neonatal care.

Although pregnancy and childbirth should be a time of joy, for some people this time can bring anxiety, harm or trauma and, in some cases, profound loss. I have listened to families who shared their experiences of unacceptable care, and they have shared with me the multitude of issues that exist across the system. It is clear that we are not listening as much as we should to women and their partners when they raise concerns—and for some women this is even worse, depending on their skin colour or language. We are not always identifying when things are going wrong in maternity and neonatal units quickly enough, and nor are we tackling these failings at the core. The system as a whole is then not supporting harmed or bereaved families when they rightly seek answers and accountability. Ultimately, we are not providing the care that families deserve. This is not the case across the board as many women receive excellent care. However, it is unacceptable that this is not the experience that all women have. We must urgently reset our approach to maternity and neonatal care.

That is why we are announcing this independent investigation: to understand the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care, and to rapidly put in place solutions to improve maternity safety and quality.

This will be a rapid investigation and will have two core roles. It will conduct urgent reviews, by the end of this year, of up to 10 trusts where there are specific issues. We will work with families and the NHS to develop criteria for selecting trusts.

Secondly, it will undertake a rapid, systemic investigation into maternity and neonatal care in England, reporting by December 2025. This will synthesise the findings and recommendations from all other reviews to recommend one set of national actions to drive the improvements needed to ensure high-quality care and that women are listened to. I will be engaging with families in determining the membership of the investigation team and its terms of reference.

I am also establishing a national maternity and neonatal taskforce, which I will chair. It will be made up of a breadth of independent clinical and international expertise, with family and charity representatives. It is imperative that this includes the voices of families who have experienced harm or loss, so I will also be continuing to meet families throughout the year. I will also ensure that membership is representative of those who can speak to the inequalities within maternal health.

The recommendations will inform the development of a new, national maternity and neonatal action plan, which we will develop with families. The action plan will lead to rapid improvement of maternity and neonatal quality and safety, and ensure that any families in the future who are harmed or bereaved will get answers about what happened, see that lessons are learnt and that there is accountability where appropriate.

In relation to calls for local reviews, I have informed families that this work will include a review into nine specific cases at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. I am currently discussing with Leeds families the best way to grip the challenges brought to light in that trust by their campaigning, reports in the media, and the latest Care Quality Commission report.

We must also act now to resolve the issues we know exist. Repeated inquiries have identified significant issues across services, from a lack of compassionate care, concerns over safety, and issues in culture and leadership, and there remain stark inequalities faced by women in deprived areas or of black and Asian ethnicity.

This is why, alongside the independent investigation, I am taking immediate measures to start changes so desperately needed. We are introducing measures to hold the system to greater account and improve transparency. The worst-performing trusts will be held to account by the NHS chief executive, to ensure that the necessary improvements are made faster and deeper. This year we will introduce a new early warning system, powered by a real-time data tool, to detect safety issues earlier and allow action to be taken more swiftly to improve outcomes.

To improve safety, we will roll out new best practice standards to tackle the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. We are also taking action to reduce the stark and completely unacceptable inequalities in maternity care. We will deliver an anti-discrimination programme to support trust leadership, ensuring that all families and staff will experience an environment free from discrimination and racism, and benefit ethnic minority mothers. These actions will support our manifesto commitment to set a target to close the black and Asian maternal mortality gap.

Through the investigation, and these immediate actions, I want to challenge and support maternity and neonatal services to provide compassionate, high-quality care to all families at their most vulnerable and life-changing moments.

[HCWS726]