Bereaved parents welcome maternity services review

Parents who raised concerns about maternity care in Leeds have welcomed news it will be included in a national investigation.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced the "rapid" inquiry on Monday, focused on the worst-performing maternity and neonatal services in the country.

Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoo believe their daughter Asees, who was stillborn in 2024, would have survived had they received better care at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI).

Ms Kaur said: "Something needs to be done – multiple governments have just let it slide for so many years."

Prof Phil Wood, Chief Executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said he would welcome any investigation and would "fully support its focus on improving maternity safety".

When Ms Kaur was 32 weeks pregnant, she visited LGI's maternity unit twice in 24 hours, each time telling staff she had ligament pain in her torso.

She was sent home both times - but later underwent emergency surgery and a massive blood clot was found, exactly where she had described being in pain.

The pair believe Asees would have survived if Ms Kaur had not been sent home earlier.

On Monday it was confirmed that Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH), along with University Hospitals Sussex, would be among the trusts included in the investigation.

"We do welcome the fact that there will be an inquiry done nationally," she said.

"We still do think that there needs to be a closer eye put on Leeds, so we welcome that [Streeting] says he will look at Leeds more specifically."

LTH NHS Trust includes LGI and St James' University Hospital.

Both hospitals had their maternity services downgraded from "good" to "inadequate" by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last week.

Concerns from staff and patients around quality of care and staffing levels led to unannounced inspections at the hospitals.

Their ratings were changed because their failings posed "a significant risk" to women and babies, according to the CQC.

Fiona Winser-Ramm and Dan Ramm set up an online group for bereaved parents after the death of daughter, Aliona Grace, at LGI in 2020.

Aliona died 27 minutes after she was born, with an inquest finding a "number of gross failures of the most basic nature that directly contributed" to her death.

Mrs Winser-Ramm said they welcomed the review and the "continuing conversation around the maternity services here in Leeds".

However, they both called for an independent inquiry to be held into services at LTH.

Mr Ramm said: "We are resolute in continuing to call for that inquiry and today is essentially another day in that process.

"The big concern is that this will not go far enough, and that essentially after an initial rapid review we will be stranded in that limbo with no answers about culture and management and the problems that have been allowed to perpetuate in LTH for five plus years."

The investigation will consist of two parts. The first will urgently investigate up to 10 of the most concerning maternity and neonatal units, to give affected families answers as quickly as possible.

The identify of these units has yet to be decided - although it was confirmed that there will be investigations into University Hospitals Sussex and Leeds Teaching Hospitals. These could form part of the 10 or be separate to them, the government said.

The second part will undertake a system-wide look at maternity and neonatal care, bringing together lessons from past inquiries to create a national set of actions to improve care across every NHS maternity service.

Prof Wood, from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Our recent Care Quality Commission (CQC) reports have highlighted critical areas for improvement, and we've already taken significant steps to address these.

"We remain committed to working closely with NHS England, the CQC, our staff and families who use our services, to ensure the highest standards of care in our maternity services."

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