{"id":7647,"date":"2026-07-03T16:35:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/why-is-the-uk-mired-in-a-maternity-and-neonatal-deaths-scandal\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T16:35:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T16:35:34","slug":"why-is-the-uk-mired-in-a-maternity-and-neonatal-deaths-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/why-is-the-uk-mired-in-a-maternity-and-neonatal-deaths-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is the UK mired in a maternity and neonatal deaths scandal?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Two new inquiries have found that substandard care in at least two hospital trusts contributed to a rise in maternal and neonatal deaths in England, UK.<\/p>\n<p>An inquiry into maternity care in Nottingham found that more than 500 mothers and babies either came to harm or died due to poor care.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2026\/6\/2\/refugee-women-in-car-face-childbirth-risks-amid-us-funding-cuts\">Photos: Refugee women in CAR face childbirth risks amid US funding cuts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/14\/costs-careers-and-choice-why-indians-are-having-fewer-children\">Costs, careers and choice: Why Indians are having fewer children<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/gallery\/2026\/6\/23\/palestinian-children-face-genocide-war-crimes-in-gaza-un-says\">Photos: UN says Palestinian children targeted in Gaza genocide, war crimes<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The report released last week, which was led by childbirth expert and midwife Donna Ockenden, found that in Queen\u2019s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital, \u201cmultiple\u201d women had experienced \u201cbullying\u201d and poor or \u201ccruel\u201d care as understaffing issues persisted.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, it found that 444 women and 76 newborn babies suffered \u201cpotentially avoidable\u201d outcomes due to poor care over 13 years at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH).<\/p>\n<p>A similar review, the Amos report, named after Baroness Valerie Amos, into the British healthcare system\u2019s maternity services also found similar outcomes: women and babies being failed as hospitals ignored patient needs. The Amos inquiry examined practices across 12 different maternity and neonatal services.<\/p>\n<p>According to research published in January by Oxford University, the UK maternal mortality rate for 2022-2024 was 12.8 deaths per 100,000 maternities.<\/p>\n<p>That was 20 percent higher than 2009-2011, \u201cmeaning the UK government has missed its ambition to halve maternal mortality\u201d, the Oxford report concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what we know about the maternity scandal in British hospitals.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-did-the-inquiries-into-uk-maternal-and-neonatal-deaths-reveal\">What did the inquiries into UK maternal and neonatal deaths reveal?<\/h2>\n<p>The Ockenden report, which undertook a three-year inquiry into the deaths of 27 mothers in the Nottingham area between 2006 and 2024, found \u201cfailures in care that may have or substantially impacted on the outcome in six deaths\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In one particularly shocking case, the inquiry found that a baby who died early in gestation was \u201cinadvertently disposed of as clinical waste by laboratory staff after her post-mortem examination\u201d, causing huge distress to her parents.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the report found failures in the following key areas:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Listening to women and families and acting promptly on concerns.<\/li>\n<li>Continuity of care, particularly for those with additional social or medical complexities.<\/li>\n<li>Robust clinical governance to ensure timely information-sharing across organisations.<\/li>\n<li>Prompt access to imaging for women with concerning neurological symptoms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The inquiry also found that deaths of newborns would most likely have been prevented if they had been handled with proper care in hospitals. It highlighted a \u201cbullying and toxic culture\u201d which persisted at NUH, as well as senior managers failing to act when repeatedly warned about specific problems. Mothers in labour were routinely turned away from the two maternity units and told to return home \u2013 often when they should not have been \u2013 the inquiry noted.<\/p>\n<p>It found that both maternity units were short-staffed and not equipped to manage the number of births and complex cases they had.<\/p>\n<p>Ockenden also found that \u201cwhen complaints were made, the trust\u2019s instinct was to cover up rather than investigate failings\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It was noted that several clinicians refused to respond to questions from the inquiry.<\/p>\n<p>The Nottingham Maternity Families group, which represents 600 harmed and bereaved families, said that was \u201cappalling\u201d and called for the sacking of senior managers who declined to give evidence. The group called on the government to launch a statutory public inquiry into maternity failings across England as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>Following publication of the Ockenden report, Kath Abrahams, chief executive of the baby loss charity, Tommy\u2019s, said: \u201cThis is a truly harrowing report. It is utterly inexcusable that pregnant women seeking help at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust were in some cases treated so poorly \u2013 sometimes with devastating consequences \u2013 and that healthcare professionals and families who did as much as they could to flag the risks were ignored.<\/p>\n<p>Both the Ockenden and Amos reports found similar reasons for the rise in deaths in the UK, all of which pointed to failings within the NHS and in maternal and clinical care.<\/p>\n<p>Amos\u2019s review also points to racism and discrimination as being \u201cembedded throughout the system\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>According to the report, women and families who were interviewed said they received unfair or unequal treatment, were subjected to stereotypes, racial slurs, Islamophobia and antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p>Staff at hospitals also shared similar sentiments about being subjected to racism while performing their jobs.<\/p>\n<p>The Amos report recommended immediate action to ensure there is much greater listening to women and their families by rolling out Martha\u2019s Rule, a new right for patients to seek a second opinion by requesting a clinical review of their care by an independent team.<\/p>\n<p>Martha\u2019s Rule was named after Martha Mills, who died aged 13 from sepsis in 2021 despite her parents raising repeated concerns about her care. It was later found she should have been moved to an intensive care unit.<\/p>\n<p>The Amos report has also recommended measures to ensure greater accountability of senior clinicians in maternal and neonatal care and eliminate inequality of care and medical outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>Gemma Stacey, professor and associate dean for practice in the School of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University, said the findings of both reviews were not surprising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think what\u2019s really powerful about the Amos review is that it pulls together information across 12 organisations, so it shows us that this isn\u2019t about individual organisations failing or particular individual clinicians or leaders,\u201d Stacey told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is about the systemic issues that have taken hold over a number of years and cause these things to happen, but also to be sustained and not addressed over that time as well,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"have-similar-issues-been-uncovered-at-other-hospitals-in-the-uk\">Have similar issues been uncovered at other hospitals in the UK?<\/h2>\n<p>Yes. In the northern city of Leeds, an independent inquiry was launched following a BBC investigation last year which revealed that at least 56 baby deaths and two maternal deaths between 2019 and 2024 might have been preventable at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the Care Quality Commission rated Leeds Teaching Hospitals as \u201cinadequate\u201d and found that the hospitals had low staffing levels and concerns about infection control.<\/p>\n<p>In March, Ockenden was appointed to oversee another review into the Leeds Teaching Hospitals that is expected to cover hypoxic injuries and maternal deaths from 2011 to 2025.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-measures-has-the-government-announced\">What measures has the government announced?<\/h2>\n<p>On Tuesday, Health Secretary James Murray called the Amos review a \u201cwatershed moment\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will dismantle toxic dynamics, boost staff morale and support better teamwork between midwives, doctors and other clinicians,\u201d he told members of parliament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need not only the right policies, procedures and processes to be put in place but also a fundamental reset in the culture of a service that too often puts the desire to protect itself above the duty to protect women and babies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Murray also said that a new maternity and neonatal commissioner, who has yet to be appointed, would be appointed in a bid to transform childbirth services. This will be a statutory role and the commissioner will be accountable to parliament.<\/p>\n<p>The commissioner will co-chair a National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce alongside the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, \u201cgiving them direct influence over policy, safety protocols, and NHS resource allocation\u201d, the government said.<\/p>\n<p>The health secretary also announced additional funds of 41 million pounds ($54.75m) to improve safety at maternity and neonatal facilities and will create 1,000 temporary midwifery posts and to publish new national standards for emergency maternity care.<\/p>\n<p>While Stacey said that the increased number of midwives would help offset the pressure on maternity departments, it is \u201calmost like a sticky plaster over a problem that\u2019s much deeper\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can\u2019t ignore that there\u2019s a huge amount of rebuilding within the workforce to be able to get to a stage where our clinicians feel really confident, supported, trusted in themselves, but also by their organisation, and most importantly, by the women and families using the services,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-other-factors-are-causing-an-increase-in-maternal-and-neonatal-deaths-in-the-uk\">What other factors are causing an increase in maternal and neonatal deaths in the UK?<\/h2>\n<p>According to MBRRACE (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK), in 2022-2024, <span>252 women died from \u201cdirect or indirect causes during or soon after pregnancy among 1,969,321 maternities\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cBlood clots continued to be the leading cause of maternal death in the UK during pregnancy or up to six weeks after the end of pregnancy. Heart disease was the second most common cause of death, followed by mental health-related causes (suicide and substance use),\u201d it found.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the same time, class background and race also played a part in the mortality rate, with research finding that the rate of deaths among black women in 2022- 2024 was \u201cnearly three times higher than that of white women\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWomen living in the most deprived areas continued to have a maternal mortality rate nearly twice that of women living in the least deprived areas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s the solution for England and Wales?<\/h2>\n<p>Stacey said there are several issues which need to be addressed to resolve the problem of failing maternity departments in England and Wales, including the need for well-trained and well-supported physicians. Most pressing, she said, are staff shortages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t get to a stage where people are showing signs of burnout, because ultimately, burnout is a patient safety issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we\u2019ve got a staff base that is burned out, they\u2019re not able to be safe in their decision-making, so all of those things, I think, on the ground will really help the culture, which will foster the right kind of care that we\u2019re all, all the staff are wanting to provide, and the families want to receive,\u201d Stacey added.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"are-insurance-based-healthcare-systems-better-than-national-health-services\">Are insurance-based healthcare systems better than national health services?<\/h2>\n<p>Despite the NHS\u2019s failings, the United States, which is unusual among western nations with an insurance-based healthcare system, has a higher rate of maternal and neonatal deaths, predominantly due to unequal access to healthcare, experts say.<\/p>\n<p>According to one study by Johns Hopkins University, for example, Black patients on the government-subsidised insurance plan, Medicare, were admitted to lower-quality hospitals, despite living close to better facilities.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the US system of insurance-based healthcare, many people have declared bankruptcy as the result of medical costs, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reporting in 2024 that about 100 million US citizens owed more than $220bn in medical debt.<\/p>\n<p>The Commonwealth Fund also reported that the US ranked last among 16 high-income countries when it comes to deaths that could potentially have been prevented with timely health care.<\/p>\n<p>It added that, at the end of the decade, \u201cthe preventable mortality rate in the US was almost twice that in France\u201d, which had the lowest rate \u2013 55 per 100,000 and operates a national healthcare system.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Centres for Disease Control, in 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the US compared with 669 the year earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two new inquiries have found that substandard care in at least two hospital trusts contributed to a rise in maternal and neonatal deaths in England, UK. An inquiry into maternity care in Nottingham found that more than 500 mothers and babies either came to harm or died due to poor care. 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