Tories to blame for maternity care crisis, says senior midwife

One of the UK's most senior midwives has said inaction by the previous Conservative government over maternity care failures has led to the "difficult" situation in wards across England and a rise in reports of birth trauma.

- Jessica Murray

Donna Ockenden said the previous government had been given a blueprint for how to improve maternity services that did not materialise.

"I think the current government has inherited a really difficult picture around perinatal care, birth care and increasing reports of birth trauma," she said. "If only the previous government had done what it said it would do that inheritance would have been very different."

Ockenden is leading a review of maternity services at the Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust, the largest inquiry into a single service in the history of the NHS, with 2,406 affected families taking part. The findings will be published next June.