Independent Review of Maternity Services update | Latest news

Today (1 February 2025), NHS England and the Independent Review of Maternity Services, led by Donna Ockenden have confirmed that the publication date for the Review’s report will be delayed.

The report was scheduled to be published in September 2025, but due to the increased number of families joining the Review, the report will now be published in June 2026.

You can read more about this here.

Anthony May, Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is important that we use the Review to maximise learning and that all affected women and families are included.

“I support fully the decision to include new families, and I support the decision to extend the timetable.

“Since the start of the Review in September 2022, we have worked closely with Donna Ockenden and her team, and this will continue through to the report’s publication and beyond.

“While the Review is ongoing, we will continue to do everything we can to improve our maternity services further.

“It is clear that, thanks to a huge amount of work from colleagues in the service, we have achieved sustainable and evidenced improvements in our maternity services.

“Women, families and the communities we serve can be assured that our maternity services are better now than they were at the start of the Review.”

We recognise that this update may be difficult for some families to hear, so if you feel as though you need extra support, please contact the Review team, or the Family Psychological Support Service (FPSS). 

If you are using our maternity services, please be assured that the teams responsible for you are committed to providing the safest and best experience possible. If have any concerns or questions about your care, please speak to your midwife or consultant.

Maternity service improvements since 2022

• Our services are safer, with fewer incidents of harm.
• We have recruited more midwives and consultants and our retention rates have improved. This means there are more substantive staff delivering care and supporting women in our hospitals and in the community.   
• Women and families tell us that they are having a better experience, with local and national surveys consistently showing improved feedback. The latest inspection from the independent regulator of healthcare in England - the Care Quality Commission (CQC) - also highlighted the positive feedback and experience from mothers. 
• The service provision is better. We now have a full home births service, supporting women to give birth at home 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We have invested in new digital health records allowing women to access their maternity notes on a tablet phone or PC at any time, and have opened a new fetal medicine unit providing women and families with personalised care in a purpose-built facility. 
• Our services are more inclusive. Extensive work has taken place in response to feedback from our communities and the Review team through the Inclusive Maternity Task Group, which is dedicated to reducing inequalities and improving outcomes. Specialist clinics, including support for diabetes and female genital mutilation, are being moved from our hospitals into the community to improve attendance and access. We have introduced a new translation app, we are providing community outreach with underrepresented communities, offering bilingual classes to Urdu speaking women, producing video and leaflet translations and our staff are undergoing cultural awareness training. 
• Our regulators say we are improving. In 2023, the CQC increased the overall rating for maternity services from inadequate to requires improvement for the first time since 2020. The safety ratings at the QMC and Nottingham City Hospital also improved and the CQC removed a warning notice, issued in 2022, saying they were satisfied that improvements had been made.