New chair appointed to lead Nottingham maternity review

A new government-backed chair has been appointed to lead a review into a city's failing maternity services.

The review into Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, following dozens of baby deaths, was opened last year but had faced heavy criticism.

Families involved wrote to Donna Ockenden, who led an inquiry into failings in Shropshire, calling for her to take over.

Former NHS trust chair Julie Dent will now lead the review.

Maternity units run by the trust - which oversees care at Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre - have been rated as inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) since 2020.

It recently emerged the number of families taking part in the review - which was commissioned by the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and NHS England, and NHS Improvement - had increased from 84 to 461.

A letter from Sir David Sloman, NHS England and NHS Improvement chief operating officer, said the review team had "listened carefully" to the concerns.

"Following discussions at both a regional and national level, it is clear that urgent changes to how the review is being delivered need to be made," Mr Sloman said.

"A new chair needs to lead this review with sufficient senior experience to address the concerns and challenges faced at Nottingham University Hospitals, to speed up the process and to deliver a review that can bring about real change for women and babies in Nottingham."

He added Ms Dent would take over as chair "with immediate effect".

In a tweet, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "The Nottingham hospitals maternity review must urgently bring about real change & prevent more families from suffering.

"I'm confident the appointment of Julie Dent, with her extensive experience, will deliver a review that helps address these tragic failures."

A statement, sent on behalf of some of the families involved, said: "The families are aware that Julie Dent has been appointed to chair the review into maternity services at NUH and anticipate giving a formal response to this announcement next week."

Meanwhile, Labour councillor Michelle Welsh - who has supported the families - told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Moving the deck chairs around isn't going to deliver the changes so desperately needed in order to protect mothers and babies in Nottingham.

"The government must intervene, we need a public inquiry."

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