Response to the announcement of a National Maternity Investigation

The investigation will consist of two parts. The first will urgently investigate up to 10 of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units, to give affected families answers as quickly as possible.

The second will undertake a system-wide look at maternity and neonatal care, bringing together lessons from past inquiries to create one clear, national set of actions to improve care across every NHS maternity service.

The national review will pull together recommendations from inquiries to assess progress and to provide clarity on direction for the NHS.

You can read more about the announcement here: National maternity investigation launched to drive improvements

As a Trust, we are determined to learn and change when things go wrong and over the past four years, we have made improvements to our maternity services, but recognise there is more still to do.

Following Panorama in 2024 we asked ourselves a number of critical questions and commissioned two independent reviews into our neonatal and maternity services, which we plan to publish towards the end of the summer.

Extensive work has taken place in recent time to improve our services and the care we provide, and also to plan well for the future. This has included significant midwifery recruitment in particular and more safety measures.

A critical element is ensuring that improvements that we make are sustained and we know that more challenges remain and we need to be relentless in focusing on them, including governance, culture and staffing levels.

Health Needs Assessment

We are committed to listening, learning, and acting, ensuring that every voice is heard and the improvements we continue to make are driven by our staff and working closely with families and communities.

An important part of this work is the health needs assessment that is already underway with NHS Gloucestershire so that people can help shape the future development for our maternity service.

Once the national review and the local needs assessment process is complete, we will set out ideas on how services could be developed. We are keen that any proposals for future service development are co-designed through meaningful engagement.

We fully support the national review announced today and the establishment of the maternity and neonatal taskforce to share learning and best practice. We believe these developments have real potential to benefit our services in the county and those who use them.

Kevin McNamara, Chief Executive, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:

“I am truly sorry that for some women, babies and families in Gloucestershire, the standard of care has not been good enough. I know that has meant a poor experience for some and a devastating one for some others.

We continue to work on the improvements needed, which over the past year or so has included a significant increase in our Midwifery staffing. And these are having a positive impact today.

But there is more to do, and we will keep pushing for the changes that will get things right for every mum and baby.

The national review is an important announcement, not just for Gloucestershire but for the whole NHS. It is one we fully support so we can ensure every family receives safe, responsive, and compassionate care.”