You may be aware that at the end of June 2025, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a rapid, national, independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services - led by Baroness Valeries Amos.
The investigation will develop one set of national recommendations to drive improvements in maternity and neonatal services across England. It will also review the maternity and neonatal system, bringing together the findings of past reviews into one clear national set of actions to ensure every woman and baby receives safe, high-quality and compassionate care.
The investigation will review 11 trusts based on a range of factors, including:
- Data and metrics designed to capture individual elements of a trust’s outcomes and its patients’ experiences – such as the CQC maternity patient survey and MBRRACE-UK perinatal mortality rates
- Variation in case mix
- Trust type
- Geographic coverage
- Provision of care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, including consideration of social, economic and racial inequalities
- Family feedback
- Where previous investigations have taken place
Three additional trusts, including UHMBT, are supporting the investigation to share good practice with others. We have been chosen to support the investigation as a result of the significant improvements our teams have made following the Morecambe Bay Investigation in 2015 and our involvement in the national Recovery Support Programme and the Maternity Safety Support Programme.
Our vast geography, varied population demographics and involvement in a previous national investigation put us in a good position to be able to share our experiences and support other trusts who are working to improve.
Baroness Amos will work with expert advisors and an investigation support team to conduct local reviews of all 14 trusts - including UHMBT. In practical terms, this means a team of trained investigators will spend several days on site at each trust, conducting interviews with relevant individuals and gathering evidence directly from women and families, including fathers and non-birthing partners.
We expect to know more about the timings and methodology for local reviews in the coming weeks, but the current expectation is that the on-site elements of the local reviews will take place between October and December 2025. This will be used to inform Baroness Amos’ recommendations, and she will produce an initial set of findings and recommendations by December 2025.
The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation is an important piece of work that will give all NHS trusts the opportunity to learn from each other and improve the maternity services offered across the country.
We look forward to supporting the investigation and working with other trusts to share the learning and improvements we have made over recent years. We are also keen to listen and work with our services users and families to take forward any further opportunities to improve as a result of this work.
We’ll continue to keep colleagues, stakeholders and our communities updated as the work progresses.
More information on the national maternity and neonatal investigation is here (www.gov.uk).
Aaron Cummins
Chief Executive