NHS Maternity Inquiry Demands Major Overhaul Across England
The independent inquiry into England’s NHS maternity services published today has demanded a major overhaul of services across the country. Baroness Amos, who led the inquiry, said maternity services in England are “not set up to deliver consistently safe, high-quality and compassionate care” and found “unacceptable racism and discrimination” affecting patient safety. The findings are more damning than any previous inquiry on the subject. The report follows repeated maternity scandals at trusts including Shrewsbury and Telford, East Kent, and Nottingham. The inquiry is expected to feature heavily in early Burnham health-policy announcements as the Labour leadership transition approaches mid-July.
Baroness Amos’s position — that current services cannot deliver consistently safe care — is more direct than any previous inquiry has stated. The racism finding is also more explicit than past statements on the issue. Burnham’s incoming health policy will face pressure to commit to specific maternity-service reform timelines. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson’s position remains uncertain through the cabinet transition; whoever inherits health will have to absorb both the maternity reform plan and the NHS pay-restoration architecture left by Streeting’s settlement of the resident doctors’ strike.