Government promises to act after 'shocking' failings in maternity care in England

The government said it will move quickly to appoint a new maternity commissioner for England after a damning report found the system was not set up to deliver high quality or compassionate care.

A rapid review led by Baroness Valerie Amos called for urgent change in the way patients were treated, with too many women not being "listened to, heard or believed".

But one of the report's key recommendations – the creation of a maternity commissioner to oversee improvements – was strongly criticised by some families.

Emily Barley, whose daughter Beatrice died at Barnsley hospital in 2022, told the BBC the idea was "fundamentally dangerous" and placed too much power in the hands of one person.

Other groups representing families reacted with disappointment to the report, which was ordered by then health secretary Wes Streeting last summer, external.

The Birth Trauma Association described it as a "huge missed opportunity" with the views of staff given too much weight compared to the experiences of patients.

"It is devastating to see that so little of what women told Baroness Amos is reflected," said chief executive Dr Kim Thomas.

She said injuries caused by forceps deliveries and the impact of post-traumatic stress on women and their partners were not mentioned.

Health Secretary James Murray said he was unable to confirm a timeline for the appointment of the maternity commissioner role, telling BBC Breakfast his team would "move as quickly as we can".

But maternity investigator Donna Ockenden, who led a recent investigation into failings in Nottingham and was one of those tipped for the new role, suggested she may not accept the job if offered it.

"Maternity services have not improved in the last two years, and my concern now is, can one person actually fix this system?" she told Times Radio.

She said that she was grateful to Baroness Amos for pulling together evidence from across England but felt she had not learnt anything new after reading the report.

"I am disappointed that we're seeing the same themes over and over again," she said. "What we need to do is get on and fix the problem."

Another safety expert, Dr Bill Kirkup, who investigated maternity services in Morecambe Bay and East Kent, resigned as one of Amos's clinical advisers.

He is understood to have disagreed over her finding that a drive in some maternity units for normal (vaginal) birth, including denying women caesarean sections, was not prevalent nationally.

Baroness Amos was asked to write her report after a series of individual maternity scandals undermined the trust of many fami