Alex Norris MP column: The Ockenden Review must be a watershed moment for maternity services

For many families in Nottinghamshire this day has been long awaited on their path to justice after the trauma they experienced.

The findings of the Ockenden Report are truly shocking.

The report uncovers serious and disastrously deficient care – during pregnancy, in labour, or after giving birth.

The consequences are nothing short of a tragedy.

The review concluded there were ‘potentially avoidable’ outcomes relating to 444 maternity cases examined up to May 2025, alongside 76 neonatal cases. It is unforgivable that mothers, babies, fathers and families have suffered injury, death, and lasting trauma under the care of the NHS

They were failed by a system that didn’t listen, wasn’t transparent, and failed to provide the truth when things went wrong.

There is no single answer into what went wrong.

Donna Ockenden’s review shines a light on a range of concerns including staff shortages, lack of training, bullying, intimidation, cover-ups and a failure to act on evidence of poor care.

That this has been uncovered is testament to the families who have fought to have their voices heard.

A particular case is the experience of Jack and Sarah Hawkins and their baby Harriet, who died just before her birth in April 2016.

After three internal investigations, a fourth external review confirmed that her death was avoidable and was due to the poor care her mother received. Jack and Sarah's search for justice has been met by ‘almost 10 years of obfuscation, delay, callousness and incompetence’.

It was their pursuit of justice which encouraged many more families who had similar experiences to come forward and ask the same questions that eventually led to this review.

Our thoughts are with them during what must have been a difficult and emotional week.

I also pay tribute to Donna Ockenden for the fearless work she has undertaken to uncover the truth.

She has been an exemplary public servant, showing extraordinary care and compassion to affected families, coupled with a determination to hold those in power to account.

Hers is a voice of authority on these matters and how her findings are now acted upon will be key.

On July 1, Health Secretary James Murray MP (Lab) set out the beginning of this work.

He will be convening the National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce to create a comprehensive action plan to be published by the end of this year that will address all the national-level recommendations from this review and others.

The Health Secretary was clear that too often recommendations of this kind are accepted quickly before being left on the shelf – that is why he is ordering a thorough action plan to set out the next steps.

He has commissioned the ongoing Baroness Amos Review to bring together all the findings from all past reviews to create a clear set of national recommendations. He also confirmed that to avoid instances of senior leaders and clinicians avoiding giving evidence, as was too often the case in this review, the Government will be amending the law so that there is a legal requirement on such individuals to cooperate with future reviews.

I am also pleased that improvements in maternity care are already being made at NUH.

Donna Ockenden was clear that during her work she found many instances of good care being delivered on a daily basis.

Prior to the publication of the review this week, Donna has worked closely with the chief executive of the trust to provide updates on where she has identified poor care that must be rectified and the trust has been acting on this. I can assure you all local MPs will be continuing to work closely with the families, Donna Ockenden, NUH and the Government to ensure improvements in care are now delivered.