Streeting Demands Parliament Summon Maternity Scandal Witnesses
Wes Streeting called on Parliament’s health committee to summon the senior NHS managers who refused to give evidence to the Nottingham maternity review, saying their “cowardice… is an insult to the Nottingham families” and accusing the health service of a cover-up culture. The former Health Secretary wrote to committee chair Layla Moran urging her to “summon those who refused to give evidence to Donna” — Donna Ockenden, whose review into deaths and injuries at Nottingham University Hospitals is the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history.
Select committees hold formal powers to compel witnesses that a non-statutory review lacks — which is the gap Streeting is asking Parliament to close, after dozens of senior staff approached by the review declined to co-operate voluntarily. Some bereaved families back the language but want a statutory public inquiry instead, and worry about prejudicing the ongoing police investigation; the government has already legislated for compelled evidence in future maternity reviews. For Streeting, who resigned as Health Secretary in May, the intervention keeps him central during a transition in which every cabinet post is in play. Watch Moran’s response and whether the committee issues summonses.