NHS Confederation responds to national maternity investigation targeting 14 NHS Trusts

Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care announcement that 14 NHS Trusts are part of a rapid national investigation of maternity and newborn baby care across England, Rory Deighton, director of the acute network at the NHS Confederation said:

"NHS leaders and their teams work very hard to keep mothers and their babies safe but accept that there needs to be improvements in maternity services. There are ongoing challenges around safety, equity and staffing shortages and this inquiry presents an important opportunity to support front-line maternity services to improve where needed.  

“It’s vital that we learn from failings in maternity services so that care can be made safer for all women and babies. That’s why this inquiry needs to be about learning and it needs to develop a package of support that leads to sustained improvements in maternity care. There is much good practice to build on, but NHS leaders know that women are not universally receiving the quality of care that they should be getting.”