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Dec 9, 2025
Changes in NHS maternity care 'too slow', head of national review finds
Kidderminster Shuttle
Victims of NHS maternity failings received "unacceptable care" leading to "tragic consequences", the head of a probe into maternity care in England has said.
Changes within services have also been "too slow", despite being necessary and urgent, according to a new report by Baroness Valerie Amos, who is leading the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation (NMNI).
The document shares her initial impressions after visiting seven trusts, talking with families and meeting NHS staff.
Baroness Amos wrote: "I expected to hear experiences from families about where they had been let down by the care they had received in maternity and neonatal units across the country, but nothing prepared me for the scale of unacceptable care that women and families have received, and continue to receive, the tragic consequences for their babies, and the impact on their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing."
The report shows that the NHS has recorded 748 recommendations relating to maternity and neonatal care in the past decade.
Baroness Amos describes this as "staggering", adding: "This naturally raises an important question: with so many thorough and far-reaching reviews already completed, why are we in England still struggling to provide safe, reliable maternity and neonatal care everywhere in the country?"
The report highlights a number of issues which Baroness Amos said she has "heard about consistently".
These include women not being listened to, not being given the right information to make informed choices about their care, and discrimination against women of colour, working class women, younger parents and women with mental health problems.
Elsewhere, the probe also heard of cases of women who had lost babies being placed on wards with newborns, or instances when concerns about reduced foetal movement were disregarded.
There were also reports of a lack of empathy from clinical teams when things go wrong, leading to women "feeling blamed and guilty", the report said.
