Mother of stillborn baby says rapid maternity review will not deliver 'justice'

A woman whose baby daughter was stillborn after care failings during pregnancy said the government's planned rapid review of maternity services in England will not deliver "justice" or meaningful accountability.

Lauren Caulfield, 28, who was under the care of Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust during her pregnancy, said the review announced by government ministers and due to report back by December would be "shallow and surface-level" and would not examine the "deep-rooted issues" she and other families say persist in maternity services.

Caulfield's daughter, Grace, was stillborn in March 2022. An independent investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) subsequently concluded there were numerous failings in her care by both Leeds and Bradford teaching hospitals. Caulfield is a member of the Maternity Safety Alliance, a group of families harmed by poor maternity care in several NHS trusts across England.

Members of the alliance said they had attended several meetings with the Department of Health in recent weeks ahead of the announcement but felt excluded from decision-making. They told reporters that Health Secretary Wes Streeting had "broken promises" over how the investigation would be run and what it would examine, and that they had been left feeling "used" by officials.

"All we have had is briefing sessions and being told what they are going to do, rather than being part of this process," Caulfield said. She added that, without sustained pressure from affected families, she feared systemic problems in maternity care would not be addressed: "If I don't push for improvements, no one will ever do anything about it."

Government officials have described the exercise as a rapid, national review to identify lessons and produce recommendations to improve safety in maternity and neonatal services, with a focus on learning across the system. The short timetable — the review is scheduled to report by December — has prompted concern from families and campaigners who say complex, longstanding problems require more in-depth investigation and longer-term oversight.

Both Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said they supported the aims of the national investigation. Professor Mel Pickup, chief executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals, said the trust backed an investigation that "will have families at its heart, to develop one set of national recommendations to drive improvements in maternity and neonatal services across England." She said thousands of women give birth in the trust each year and that while the majority had a positive experience, "not always, and we know that isn't good enough."

Dr Magnus Harrison, chief medical officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said Leeds welcomed being included in the national maternity and neonatal investigation and supported its focus on improving safety across the country. "We recognise we have not always delivered the highest quality of care to every family, and we are extremely sorry to the families who have lost their babies or had poor experiences when receiving care in our hospitals," he said, adding that families would be central to the investigation.

Campaigners and affected families have repeatedly called for stronger, independent inquiries and for lessons from local investigations such as the HSIB reports to be implemented nationally. They say rapid, time-limited reviews risk producing recommendations that are general or pragmatic rather than addressing the organisational and cultural changes they say are needed to prevent avoidable deaths and harm.

Health officials have said the planned review aims to balance speed with thoroughness so that immediate safety lessons can be acted on quickly, while longer-term work will follow. Officials said the review would consider evidence from local investigations, national inquiries and meetings with families, clinicians and trusts.

The debate over the scope and pace of the review comes amid wider scrutiny of NHS maternity and neonatal services across England, where families, clinicians and regulators have highlighted concerns about staffing, training, reporting and local governance in recent years. The review's findings are expected to be published later this year, and ministers have said they will set out next steps in response to any recommendations.