Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce will include (1) representatives of families with lived experience of neonatal care, and (2) professionals with expertise in ‘baby voice’ who are able to represent the baby’s perspective in the formation and prioritisation of services.

Family voices are key to the work of the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce. Families with a wide range of lived experience of maternity and neonatal care are represented on both the taskforce and within the Expert Reference Groups (ERGs) that are supporting the taskforce’s work.

Membership of the taskforce currently includes a representative from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine, providing expertise in neonatal care. There are also currently several professionals with backgrounds in neonatology on the Workforce, Clinical and Academic ERG. These include Dr Adam Smith-Collins, a Consultant Neonatologist of the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, Professor James Boardman, a Professor of Neonatal Medicine of the University of Edinburgh, Dr Jideofor Menakaya, a Consultant Neonatologist Paediatrician of the Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Jonathan Cusack, a Consultant Neonatologist of the Leicester Neonatal Service, and Shazia Hoodbhoy, a Consultant Neonatologist of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.