Maternity and Neonatal Care
1/43. What steps his Department is taking to improve maternity and neonatal care.
I am deeply concerned by the state of maternity care that we inherited in the NHS. That is why I have asked Baroness Amos to chair an independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services. Families deserve truth and justice, there must be accountability for failings, and services must improve. I am committing to doing whatever it takes to provide patients and babies with safe, comfortable and dignified care. I should also inform the House that this week I have announced an inquiry into failings at the Leeds teaching hospital trust. I am working with the families affected to agree on a chair and terms of reference, and I will keep the House updated on next steps.
Pregnancy can be a worrying time for any expectant parent, and knowing they can access their GP to see a person face to face is hugely important. That was denied to my constituent, Hayley Johnson, who sadly went on to lose her baby, Evelyn, when she was delivered in an emergency at 26 weeks and six days due to a huge misdiagnosis given over the phone. With regard to maternity support specifically, what is the Minister doing to ensure that excellent maternity care is delivered in local communities so that that never happens to another family, and that when the very worst does happen and parents are suffering the loss of a baby, the support also extends to bereavement counselling?
I thank my hon. Friend for the work she is doing to campaign for better support in this space and for raising these tragic cases, not just today but in her powerful contribution to last week’s debate. She is right to say that GPs are critical for supporting women during pregnancy, providing compassionate physical and mental health care and signposting relevant services, which is why continuity is important. I am happy to report to her that, in terms of mental health and bereavement support, a record number of women accessed a specialist community perinatal mental health service or maternal mental health service in the 12 months to July 2025, but clearly there is much more to do. We have announced a £36.5 million package for bespoke perinatal mental health and parent infant relationship support as part of the continuation of the family hubs and Start for Life programme, but as we heard in last week’s debate, although a lot has been done, there is so much more to do.
Safe maternity care depends on adequate staffing, and we on these Benches have been calling for better recruitment and retention of staff in women’s health services for a long time now. Can the Secretary of State outline what specific measures the Government are taking to address the shortage of midwives and specialist neonatal nurses across England?
We need to make sure that there is better staffing and that we have the right people in the right place. I should just caution the House, though, because in recent years there has been an increase in staffing but not a corresponding increase in the quality of care, so we have to make sure we are looking at this issue in a nuanced way. It is about having the right staff in the right place at the right time to deliver safe maternity and perinatal services, and that is exactly what we will do.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Our maternity wards are in a state of crisis, with death and injury rising at an alarming rate. Sadly, this issue is not confined to Shropshire, and there has been a steady drumbeat of maternity scandals, with review after review finding consistent failings across the NHS. Can the Secretary of State explain to me and the many mothers I have met who have faced tragedy and unacceptable trauma why the Government are cutting national service development funding—ringfenced funding to improve maternity care—by more than 95% and why the immediate and essential actions from the Ockenden review into the failings at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust, which were to be implemented nationwide, are still not in place more than three years later?
We really are not; what we have done is devolve funding and responsibility to local level, which we think is the right thing to do. If I may say so, it is quite irresponsible to suggest that maternity funding and funding for services has been cut in the way that the hon. Lady describes. I think it causes unnecessary concern. We are taking into account the recommendations made by Donna Ockenden, as well as a wide range of other reviews and inquiries, as part of Baroness Amos’s rapid investigation, because I, like the hon. Member, want to see rapid improvement in maternity services across the country.