The NHS trust which runs the Royal Sussex is one of 14 to be examined in a national investigation into “failures” in NHS maternity and neonatal services.
Baroness Amos has been tasked to lead the investigation – with bereaved families at the heart of the work – to drive improvements after systemic problems in England’s maternity and neonatal care dating back more than 15 years.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said bereaved families had shown “extraordinary courage” in coming forward, adding: “What they have experienced is devastating and their strength will help protect other families from enduring what they have been through.
“I know that NHS maternity and neonatal workers want the best for these mothers and babies, and that the vast majority of births are safe and without incident, but I cannot turn a blind eye to failures in the system.
“Every single preventable tragedy is one too many. Harmed and bereaved families will be right at the heart of this investigation to ensure no-one has to suffer like this again.”
A range of services are to be put under the spotlight in the investigation which comes after various independent reviews across multiple trusts found failings including women’s voices being ignored, safety concerns overlooked and poor leadership which has created toxic cultures.
Baroness Amos, who is to make national recommendations for improvements, said “it is vital” that the experiences of mothers and affected families are at the heart of the investigation from its “very beginning” and are “fully heard”.
She said: “Their experiences – including those of fathers and non-birthing partners – will guide our work and shape the national recommendations we will publish.
“We will pay particular attention to the inequalities faced by black and Asian women and by families from marginalised groups, whose voices have too often been overlooked.”
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) has called for urgency and support for staff and families. It also called on the review to make it easy for staff to raise their concerns.
RCM chief executive Gill Walton said it is “imperative that this investigation gets unde rway at pace”, adding: “This announcement will bring clarity but it will also bring fresh challenges for maternity staff at the trusts affected.
“It is vital that staff are supported through what will inevitably be a difficult process.
“When this investigation was first announced it was described as a ‘rapid review’ that would report by December. It is vital this work gets under way quickly so that the families who have suffered unimaginable harm get the answers they need and hard-pressed maternity staff get the support and investment they’ve been calling for. ”
She added: “It should not be the case that, in 21st century Britain, black and Asian women are disproportionately more likely to die during childbirth or soon after, or that their babies are more likely to have poorer outcomes. The RCM is pleased that this investigation will address this, alongside the inequalities facing women from deprived backgrounds.”
Professor Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “It is vital that the review process now brings everyone together with compassion, a commitment to transparency and appropriate support.
“Too many women and babies are not getting the safe, compassionate care they deserve and the maternity workforce is on its knees, with staff leaving the profession.”
Rory Deighton, director of the acute network at the NHS Confederation, said it is “vital that we learn from failings in maternity services so that care can be made safer for all women and babies”.
He said: “NHS leaders and their teams work very hard to keep mothers and their babies safe but accept that there needs to be improvements in maternity services.
“There are ongoing challenges around safety, equity and staffing shortages and this inquiry presents an important opportunity to support front-line maternity services to improve where needed.”
Bereaved mother Emily Barley, whose baby daughter Beatrice died in 2022, called for a public inquiry.
“We feel really, really let down,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“What we’re asking for is for the investigation in this format to be scrapped and for us to have a statutory public inquiry, which is the only way for us to get into all the issues in all their detail and complexity.”
Baroness Amos told the programme: “I want to make sure that the systems and processes are in place that enable the families to get the justice that they want and that they deserve.
“What we have now is completely unacceptable – how we have got to a situation where so many trusts have been investigated; where we have hundreds of recommendations, and yet still, the Secretary of State has had to ask me to look again so that we pull together a set of national recommendations, which he, with a task force that he is putting in place that will have experts and families and campaigners on it, that they can then ensure that those recommendations are implemented.”
If the NHS spent more money on patient care and less on shiny new hospitals which don’t function as well as the old ones in most cases, we’d have a much healthier NHS.
Those “shiny new hospitals” address a lot of problems with the old ones in most cases, Elaine.
Good to see the national team are able to correctly name the people affected here: ‘’women’’ and ‘’mothers’’. Biological reality that Brighton and its hospitals have been unable/unwilling to name in the effort to be ‘inclusive’. Risking women and mothers and babies health by colluding with trans ideology and not using plain everyday language in an effort to appease its ideologues. The problems in Brightons maternity services go back further than 15 years and an investigation is long overdue, but allowing an ideology to distract from the real issues facing maternity services won’t have helped and hopefully that will also be addressed as part of this review.
I experienced an environment that felt deeply unsafe. Essential equipment such as gas and air was unavailable, concerning symptoms were not escalated, specialists were unavailable, and several procedures were carried out without respect for my dignity or wishes. These failures contributed to life‑changing harm for both me and my daughter every day since. In my view, the unit has required thorough investigation for a long time, and I hope this review examines not only the systemic issues but also the actions and decision‑making of individuals involved.