The report is an indictment of the maternity care women often receive

By the Editorial Team · Thursday, June 25, 2026

An inquiry into Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust uncovered pervasive failures in maternity care over more than a decade, resulting in maternal and infant deaths and widespread mistreatment of women. The report highlights systemic neglect and silencing of patients, signaling urgent need for NHS-wide reforms as further investigations into maternity services continue across the UK.

A recent inquiry into maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has revealed widespread and longstanding failings that have resulted in the deaths or catastrophic harm of mothers and babies. The Nottingham maternity inquiry, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, examined 520 cases over more than a decade, uncovering a pattern of suppressed concerns, downgraded incidents, and the systematic dismissal of women’s voices—especially those of the most vulnerable patients. The findings indicate not only individual errors but a deeply entrenched culture of neglect and mistreatment within the trust’s maternity units.

The 400-page report, published on 24 June 2026, characterizes the failings as “hauntingly consistent” and highlights how women and staff were bullied or gaslit, with some being told that their pain was imagined. The inquiry’s author underscored that lessons from earlier investigations, including her 2022 inquiry into maternity care at Shrewsbury, have largely gone unheeded. The Nottingham case is the fifth major national review of maternity services since 2015 and foreshadows further scrutiny with ongoing inquiries into Leeds Teaching Hospitals and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust, also chaired by Ockenden.

These revelations come amid broader concerns about maternal safety across the UK. An expert report published earlier this year noted that maternal death rates have reached a 20-year high, rising 20 percent between 2022 and 2024 compared with 2009 to 2011—a period when the government vowed to halve such deaths. Disparities are stark, with women from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds and those living in deprived areas facing the highest mortality rates.

Central to many investigations is the recurring failure of the NHS to adequately listen to pregnant women, whose warnings and instincts are often dismissed or reframed as anxiety. The inquiry found that women frequently report feeling blamed, judged, or told off when raising concerns, undermining trust and safety. One prominent example detailed in the Nottingham report involves Sarah and Jack Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet died shortly before birth in April 2016 due to avoidable errors. Sarah Hawkins’s repeated symptoms were ignored, and the family faced years of struggle before an external review confirmed that Harriet’s death resulted from substandard care during late pregnancy.

Former health secretary Wes Streeting has described the problem as part of a wider issue of medical misogyny within the NHS, which extends beyond maternity services. Donna Ockenden emphasized that the expectations women and families bring to maternity care are modest: competence, honesty, timeliness, safety, dignity, and kindness. She stressed that these should be basic standards rather than exceptional goals. The ongoing pattern of neglect, however, calls into question whether the NHS can improve maternity care without fundamentally addressing the silencing and dismissal of women’s voices.

As additional reviews and inquiries proceed, the healthcare system faces mounting pressure to demonstrate that it can provide safe, respectful, and responsive maternity services—a challenge crucial to reducing maternal and neonatal harm nationwide.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.