\n<\/p>\n
Families who lost babies at two hospitals in Leeds have said they are slowly regaining trust in the health secretary after the midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead a review into the failing service, where 56 babies and two mothers died in five years.<\/p>\n
Ockenden, who conducted a similar review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust in 2020, was chosen to lead the investigation into Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust after a campaign by the families.<\/p>\n
The group, which also includes women whose children survived but who suffered serious harm through failures in maternity care at the trust, met Wes Streeting last month to urge the health secretary to appoint Ockenden, five months after the independent review was announced.<\/p>\n
The maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and St James\u2019s hospital, both run by the same trust, were downgraded to \u201cinadequate\u201d by the Care Quality Commission in June 2025.<\/p>\n
Amarjit Kaur Matharoo, whose daughter Asees was stillborn at the LGI in 2024, said trust in Streeting was beginning to be restored, after initially feeling they were being sidelined due to delays in appointing a chair.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re slowly getting it back,\u201d she said. \u201cHe has to regain it, it\u2019s not something that he can just give because we have been burnt ultimately. But it\u2019s a step towards rebuilding that relationship and ensuring that actually patients and families are heard, and making sure that actually there\u2019s a safer space for maternity in Leeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiona Wisner-Ramm\u2019s daughter Aliona also died at the LGI in 2020, after what a coroner described as \u201ca number of gross failures of the most basic nature\u201d by hospital staff.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe reminded Mr Streeting that victims are the people that should be paramount in any of this and that should always come before protecting organisations, protecting other individuals in power and I think he\u2019s very much reflected on that and that has helped his decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ockenden said: \u201cIt is an honour to have been asked to chair this review, and I feel a profound sense of responsibility to the parents, babies and healthcare professionals it concerns to ensure that we get this right. This review must remain firmly focused on the families who, in many instances, have waited far too long for answers to questions about their care.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy priority will be to listen carefully to families and staff, to understand what has gone wrong, and to ensure that the lessons are learned and the changes required are made, in a timely way, thus ensuring that all mothers, their babies and families receive safe, high-quality perinatal care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Streeting, who previously said Ockenden would not be leading the Leeds review owing to her existing commitments, said: \u201cDonna Ockenden is an outstanding advocate for families whose voices haven\u2019t always been heard, and I\u2019m delighted to appoint someone so trusted by those who have been repeatedly let down by the NHS.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo the families in Leeds, I want to say \u2013 thank you for your openness during our detailed discussions in recent weeks, and the courage you continue to show in sharing your experiences and advocating for lasting change, so other families do not experience the unimaginable tragedies you have gone through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis review must deliver for you and for the sake of all families who rightly expect to receive safe and high-quality maternity care in the NHS. Donna Ockenden\u2019s leadership will bring us closer to the lasting change so desperately needed in Leeds.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Families who lost babies at two hospitals in Leeds have said they are slowly regaining trust in the health secretary after the midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead a review into the failing service, where 56 babies and two mothers died in five years. Ockenden, who conducted a similar review into maternity services at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[4769,19927,2932,357,1397,1398,23698],"class_list":{"0":"post-46377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-appointment","9":"tag-donna","10":"tag-families","11":"tag-inquiry","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-maternity","14":"tag-ockenden"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}