Senior midwife appointed to maternity inquiry

A senior midwife will lead an independent review into maternity services in Sussex, it has been confirmed.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who announced an independent investigation into maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust last year, said Donna Ockenden would head the inquiry.

Streeting met families who have experienced bereavement and harm, and agreed the inquiry would begin as soon as possible. The NHS trust has said it will cooperate fully with the review.

Ockenden, a former clinical midwife, previously led the Ockenden Review into failings in maternity care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Speaking in Brighton, Streeting said: "It was really important that we get this review up and running, that it has the confidence of families who've campaigned really hard to get to today, and have suffered, as I've heard on so many occasions now first hand, the most unimaginable, painful trauma."

He said he had heard experiences of bereavement, avoidable loss, harm and disability which women had suffered - as well as the experiences of fathers and partners.

One bereaved mother Liz Charlton spoke publicly for the first time this week about "maternity failings" which she said led to the death of her daughter, Hazel, in 2021.

The NHS trust said it could not comment while legal proceedings were ongoing.

Last year, Ockenden said it was "an honour to be trusted by families".

University Hospitals Sussex NHS runs hospitals in Brighton, Worthing, Haywards Heath and Chichester.

Katie Fowler, from the Truth For Our Babies campaign, said it had been "a long, exhausting and deeply emotional fight".

She said: "As a group, we have been calling for this review for two years, all while living with devastating loss and harm caused to us and our babies.

"Today's announcement represents a significant and welcome step forward."

She said: "While the full scope of the review is yet to be agreed, Mr Streeting was receptive to the arguments we made as to why a full inclusive review is needed."

Fowler said families wanted Ockenden to lead the inquiry because they trusted her "implicitly".

"To have her in the room overseeing the conversations meant we could have full faith in the conversation and in the outcomes," she said.

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