14 NHS trusts named in national maternity investigation

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced on 15 September 2025 that 14 NHS trusts will be the focus of a rapid national maternity investigation after independent reviews found repeated failings in care and leadership.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the review was being launched in response to a pattern of ‘‘systemic’ failure’ in NHS maternity care and pledged that harmed and bereaved families would be central to the inquiry. "Every single preventable tragedy is one too many," he said, adding that families had often been "gaslit" in their search for the truth.

The investigation will be led by Baroness Valerie Amos and is expected to conclude in December 2025. The DHSC said the probe would urgently examine a range of services across the entire maternity system after a series of independent reviews across multiple trusts revealed similar patterns of failings: women's voices ignored, safety concerns overlooked and poor leadership creating toxic cultures.

Baroness Amos said she would "carry the weight of the loss suffered by families" throughout the investigation and hoped to provide answers and identify areas of care requiring urgent reform. The review will be co‑produced with victims of maternity scandals, giving families a role in how the inquiry is run, the department said.

The trusts named for focused scrutiny are Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals; Blackpool Teaching Hospitals; Bradford Teaching Hospitals; East Kent Hospitals; Gloucestershire Hospitals; Leeds Teaching Hospitals; Oxford University Hospitals; Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals; Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals; The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn; University Hospitals of Leicester; University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay; University Hospitals Sussex; and Yeovil District Hospital/Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.

The move follows several high‑profile reviews. An independent review at East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust found that the deaths of 45 babies could have been avoided with proper treatment. An earlier investigation into care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, published in March 2022, found that neglect and poor care provision had caused the deaths of more than 200 babies and nine mothers.

Regulatory and professional leaders have warned that failures are linked to workplace culture. Charles Massey, chief executive of the General Medical Council, told a patient safety conference that trainee doctors fearful of speaking up and a ‘‘tribal’’ workplace culture could foster cover‑ups. "That doctors are making life and death decisions in environments where they feel fearful to speak up is profoundly concerning," he said, arguing that such cultures can normalise harm to mothers and babies.

The DHSC said the rapid examination would look beyond isolated incidents to systemic issues across maternity and neonatal services, including leadership, escalation of safety concerns, staffing, training and how complaints and investigations are handled. The department said it would examine individual cases at some trusts where families have raised concerns, including examples in Leeds and in Sussex.

Patient groups and bereaved families have for years campaigned for greater transparency and accountability in maternity services. The announcement aims to respond to those calls while identifying immediate changes to reduce preventable harm. The investigation’s findings are intended to guide reforms across the NHS in England and to inform regulatory and local actions where failings are identified.

NHS representatives have acknowledged the scale of the task and emphasised that the majority of births in the NHS are safe. The DHSC said the review would not replace local inspections or ongoing legal processes, and that it would work alongside regulators and trusts to ensure co‑ordination of urgent safety actions where needed.

The inquiry is one of several recent drives to improve patient safety in high‑risk hospital services, and its conclusions are expected to shape policy and regulatory responses to maternity safety nationwide.