Health Secretary announces inquiry into Leeds maternity services

An independent inquiry will be launched into Leeds maternity services following a parent-led campaign over care failures stretching back 14 years.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was deeply concerned about problems at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, calling it “a real outlier” for perinatal mortality — deaths around the time of birth — compared with other hospitals nationally.

The announcement follows maternity services at the trust being rated “inadequate” after an unannounced Care Quality Commission inspection in December and January.

A subsequent NHS England report raised “significant” concerns about safety and quality of care.

After meeting affected parents in the city, Streeting said the trust — which runs maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital — required scrutiny similar to the ongoing Nottingham maternity inquiry.

“I’ve decided that we need a Nottingham-style independent inquiry into what’s going on with maternity and neonatal services in Leeds,” he said.

“I think we need clear answers, accountability and improvement… I do think we need that independent look, not just for what’s happening now but stretching back to historic cases as well.”

The Nottingham review — the largest maternity inquiry of its kind — has examined hundreds of baby deaths and injuries at Nottingham University Hospitals.

It has led to the NHS paying out tens of millions of pounds for claims dating back to 2006 and prompted a police investigation, with findings expected next year.

Dozens of baby deaths in Leeds in recent years are thought to have been preventable.

Families affected by avoidable deaths of babies or mothers have long campaigned for an independent investigation.

Streeting has already commissioned a national review of NHS maternity services but said Leeds was an “exceptional case” that warranted its own inquiry.

“I don’t want to drown the NHS across the country in a whole series of local reviews into what I think is a national problem,” he said.

“But I have been persuaded, having been to Leeds recently to listen to families and look at the data.

“Given the challenges still evident — not least from the most recent Care Quality Commission inspection — and Leeds’s scale as one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe, I think all of those things point to Leeds as an exceptional case for this kind of inquiry.”

He said details of the inquiry’s scope would be announced soon.

“I’ll proceed without fear or favour. If there are individuals who need to be held to account, I will ensure accountability.

“Where systemic improvements are needed, I will make sure they happen, and that’s why I believe this specific investigation is necessary.”

Campaigners welcomed the decision, describing the current system as “rotten”.

Fiona Wisner-Ramm and Daniel Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died 27 minutes after birth in 2020 following what an inquest described as “gross failures” in care, have been among those leading the campaign.

“This means that Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will now be properly investigated, allowing for meaningful changes to its culture and practices,” they said in a statement.

“We hope that this inquiry will finally break the cycle of repeated errors and inadequate leadership, helping to prevent further deaths and injuries to mothers and babies.”