Maternity inquiry: Commissioner will tackle NHS failures

‘Avoidable harm and lifelong trauma’ through lack of safety

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The Government has said it will appoint a national maternity commissioner to drive change after a report concluded families have suffered from repeated failures in NHS care.

The ‘rapid review’ into maternity care, led by Baroness Valerie Amos, calls for urgent change to the way women and families are treated, including when they phone in with concerns during pregnancy and labour.

Lady Amos said families should have the right to an independent investigation of their care when things go wrong and they do not agree with the findings of internal NHS reviews.

She pointed to the need to improve the culture in hospitals and teamworking between midwives, obstetricians and other medics, and suggested an overhaul of rotas to ensure obstetric consultants and anaesthetists are available on a delivery unit “for timely critical senior decision making and intervention 24 hours a day, seven days a week”.

While “the vast majority of pregnancies and births in England have a positive outcome and we have seen many examples of good practice”, Lady Amos pointed to poor care embedded across the system.