Maternity review ‘will not deliver justice’

A woman whose baby daughter was stillborn after failings in her care during pregnancy has said the government’s planned rapid review of maternity care in England will not deliver “justice” or “accountability”.

During her pregnancy, Lauren Caulfield was under the care of Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust and Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust, but her daughter, Grace, died in the days before her birth in 2022.

Ms Caulfield, 28, a member of the Maternity Safety Alliance, said she believed the review would not look at “deep-rooted issues” in maternity services.

The Leeds and Bradford hospital NHS trusts, whose maternity services are to be examined as part of the review, said they supported its aims.

Members of the Maternity Safety Alliance – a group of families harmed by poor maternity care in several NHS trusts across England – have taken part in a number of meetings with the Department of Health in recent weeks ahead of the announcement.

They said 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”.

Ms Caulfield said: “All we have had is briefing sessions and being told what they are going to do, rather than being part of this process.”

The timescale given for the review, which is due to report back by December, would make its findings “shallow and surface-level”, she said.

“[It] isn’t going to look at the deep-rooted issues in maternity services.”

An independent investigation by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch found numerous failings in Ms Caulfield’s care by both Leeds and Bradford teaching hospitals.

“If I don’t push for improvements, no one will ever do anything about it,” Ms Caulfield said.

Professor Mel Pickup, chief executive for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We fully support the aim of the 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.

“Every year, thousands of women give birth in our hospitals and community, and we want each and every one of those women to receive excellent care and have a positive experience with us.

“In the majority of cases this is happening, but not always, and we know that isn’t good enough.”

Meanwhile, Dr Magnus Harrison, chief medical officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We welcome the inclusion of Leeds in the national maternity and neonatal investigation and fully support its focus on improving maternity and neonatal 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.

“Families will be at the heart of this national investigation, and we are fully supportive of this.”