Former senior midwife Donna Ockenden has been confirmed as the chair of an independent review into Leeds maternity services. Health Secretary Wes Streeting approved the appointment after months of lobbying by bereaved and harmed families and their local MPs. The latest meeting between campaigners and Streeting on 23 February lasted close to four hours.
The government agreed to an independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in October 2025, following a series of maternity failings. But the sticking point had been over who would lead it. Families insisted only Ockenden had their trust and was qualified to do so. Ockenden conducted the independent investigation into maternity services in Shrewsbury and Telford, and is due to complete a four-year inquiry into Nottingham’s care failings on 30 June. The latter, which has considered the care of more than 2,400 families, is the largest maternity investigation in NHS history.
“We are grateful that Wes Streeting has listened carefully to all of the evidence we put to him about our concerns and why Donna should be appointed as chair,” said Amarjit Matharoo, whose daughter Asees was stillborn at Leeds General Infirmary in 2024. “We believe she has the experience, independence and determination required to uncover the truth and deliver meaningful accountability and change.”
The investigation will not just look at underlying poor care. It will also examine the governance, accountability and the handling of concerns at the trust when they were raised by women, their families and staff members. This will not be a quick process, however. While the full terms of reference have not yet been agreed, the government has confirmed that the review will look at harms caused over a 15-year period: between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2025. The review will operate on an “opt-out basis”, meaning cases that occurred during this period will automatically be included unless families choose otherwise.
The same approach has been used in Ockenden’s Nottingham maternity review. It helps to ensure that no voices are missed, but it also inevitably will lead to a large number of cases being considered. While both campaigning families and the government highlight how Leeds Teaching Hospitals will receive monthly recommendations to improve the safety and quality of maternity care as the review progresses, it seems unlikely that any overarching findings will be issued for several years. The Nottingham terms of reference cover births over 13 years. It seems likely, then, that the Leeds inquiry will take a similar amount of time to complete, and encompass many hundreds of families.
Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona Grace died in 2020 after the family experienced a “gross failure in care”, has been raising concerns over Leeds maternity care for nearly six years. She wants as many families as possible to come forward. “We are calling on to all those who have been harmed, or whose babies have been harmed to reach out and engage with the review,” she said. “Whether it was 11 years ago or 11 months ago, your experience matters.” Donna Ockenden said it was an “honour” to be asked to chair the Leeds review. Her priority will be to “listen carefully to families and staff” to understand what had gone wrong and put changes in place to ensure all mothers and babies receive safe and high quality care.
Streeting said he was “delighted” to appoint “someone so trusted by those who have been repeatedly let down by the NHS.” He thanked the Leeds families, too, “for your openness during our detailed discussions in recent weeks, and the courage you continue to show in sharing your experiences and advocating for lasting change, so other families do not experience the unimaginable tragedies you have gone through.”
Just as in Leeds, families in Sussex have been promised an independent review into their care failing. While all cases are unique, the two areas have been shown to have some striking similarities. An investigation by the New Statesman and BBC News revealed that the deaths of 55 babies at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust between 2019 and 2023 might have been avoidable had they received better care. In comparison, the deaths of 56 babies and two mothers may have been preventable between 2019 and mid-2024 at Leeds hospitals.
For bereaved families in Sussex, today’s announcement is bittersweet. The review into their care, promised by Streeting in June 2025 – some five months before he agreed to the same for Leeds – has seen no progress. Sussex families also want Ockenden, which they made clear before the Leeds review was even announced. The Sussex families have the full backing of those in Leeds, who say they “remain acutely aware” that others “also need” Ockenden. The New Statesman understands that the Department of Health has spoken with the former midwife to assess her capacity to take on Sussex, too.
The Truth For our Babies group, which represents 21 families whose babies died in Sussex between 2020 and 2025, said it had now been “nine unnecessarily traumatic months since Sussex families were promised a review of our babies’ deaths and there has been no significant progress.” During this time, they continued, more families have come forward. “Based on the Trust’s own data, we now believe at least 62 babies’ deaths may have been avoidable at University Hospitals Sussex from 2020 to 2025. Wes Streeting has assured us he is committed to handling our review with the seriousness and care it deserves. To demonstrate this, he must appoint Donna Ockenden to lead it.”
The Health Secretary has agreed to meet with the Sussex families over the coming days. Their ask is simple: to be treated with same courtesy and seriousness as those who have experienced similar poor care in Leeds. For, these parents say, “It is impossible to imagine he would value the babies who died in Sussex any less than those who died in Yorkshire.”
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