Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting has called for NHS bosses who refused to give evidence to the Nottingham maternity scandal review to be summoned before Parliament. In a letter to Health and Social Care Select Committee chair Layla Moran, Streeting expressed outrage at the refusal of senior NHS leaders to cooperate with the review led by Donna Ockenden.
Report Findings
Donna Ockenden’s report into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust found that more than 500 mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or died due to “deeply embedded systemic failures” at the “toxic” trust. The report revealed that NUH knew about serious issues in its maternity department for years but failed to take action to prevent further deaths.
Refusal to Cooperate
Streeting noted that of 66 local executives and directors approached about their roles in the scandal, 31 refused to be interviewed. Only four of 14 senior regional NHS leaders agreed to be interviewed. He described their refusal as “cowardice” and “an insult to the Nottingham families.”
Streeting urged Moran to “summon those who refused to give evidence to Donna Ockenden to explain their actions before Parliament.” He added, “If the threat of being held in contempt of Parliament is necessary to force those in positions of power to be held accountable, then so be it.”
Cover-Up Culture
In his letter, Streeting wrote: “Having sat and listened to those parents recount their harrowing experiences, of harm and bereavement, I find it simply unconscionable that people who have worked for the NHS would deny them an honest account of what went wrong and why. By doing so, they have shown a complete disregard for the safety of patients in general, because we need to make sure that the right lessons are learned and acted upon to prevent future harm. This is indicative of the cover-up culture in the NHS that must be brought to an end.”
Government Response
The Government announced it would appoint a national maternity commissioner to drive change after a separate “rapid review” into maternity care, led by Baroness Valerie Amos, concluded that families have suffered from repeated failures in NHS care. The review called for urgent changes to how women and families are treated, including during phone calls with concerns in pregnancy and labour.
However, families affected by NHS maternity failings criticized the Amos report as insufficiently independent and called for a statutory public inquiry. The Maternity Safety Alliance described the proposed national maternity commissioner as “dangerous” and noted a lack of scrutiny of regulators like the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and General Medical Council (GMC).
