Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on implementing the Immediate and Essential Actions of the Ockenden review, published on 30 March 2022.

All the recommendations made by Donna Ockenden in her review into maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust in 2022 were accepted, including the requests made to the Government, the health system more widely, and the trust. Following publication of the Ockenden review, NHS England wrote to all trusts and systems asking them to deliver the recommendations and report to their public boards.

To support this delivery, NHS England’s three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services brought together the immediate and essential actions from the Ockenden review with those from other reports and guidance. The National Health Service’s operational planning guidance sets out the expectation that trusts should implement the key actions from the plan. In accordance with the NHS operating framework, it is for integrated care boards to oversee local progress with this. The technical guidance which accompanies the plan sets out how we are monitoring progress at a national level.

The plan is in its final year of delivery, and progress has been made across the four themes to improve outcomes and experiences for women and their babies.

The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust has seen a significant improvement in overall midwifery staffing levels. The trust has enhanced its senior and specialist midwifery teams to provide additional leadership, expert advice, and support for women and families, as well as the clinical teams. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust now has in place robust training programmes that equip the maternity workforce with up-to-date skills, training, and development, including in the management of emergency scenarios.

On 23 June 2025, my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced the launch of an independent, national Investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services to look at the systemic issues behind why so many women, babies and families experience unacceptable care. It will look at up to 10 maternity and neonatal units where there are specific issues, international evidence, adoption of best practice and a system-wide investigation of maternity and neonatal care. There have been several reviews, inquiries and national research into maternity and neonatal care in recent years, including Ockenden. The investigation will bring together lessons from past these reviews and will produce, by December 2025, one clear set of national recommendations to achieve high quality, safe care across maternity and neonatal services, and that women and families are listened to. The investigation will take previous recommendations, including the Immediate and Essentials actions from Ockenden, into consideration to ensure we are providing clarity to the system and effectively delivering the change needed.

Alongside this, my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, also announced we would be establishing a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which he would chair. It will use the recommendations from the investigation to develop a national plan to drive improvements across maternity and neonatal care, holding the system to account for delivering the actions and working closely with families to ensure their voices are central to this work.