Ockenden report: Disappointment two years into maternity care review at Nottingham's hospitals

• Mark Gough went to speak to Donna Ockenden two years into the review.

Two years on from launching her review into maternity care at Nottingham’s hospitals, Donna Ockenden says she's still concerned over the care some women are receiving.

The former senior midwife has said she is disappointed to learn that even while Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is under review, new reports have emerged of women being treated poorly.

She says she's hearing reports of new mothers being shouted at by staff and some are being subjected to racism.

As part of the independent Ockenden review, 1,939 cases involving Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust are being looked into.

Donna Ockenden says she's "disappointed" that new reports are coming in while she's carrying out her review.

Both Ms Ockenden and the Trust say treatment is improving, but claims of mistreatment have brought the Trust under increasing scrutiny.

Ms Ockenden explains: "I've raised concerns about racism, discrimination, unkindness, lack of civility from staff to women, including some women being shouted at by members of staff, poor bereavement care."

"And sadly that is something we are hearing in the hear and now, in the last couple of weeks."

She adds: "It's extremely disappointing and I will not hesitate to raise this at the highest level of the trust."

As part of the review, Ms Ockenden has been exploring stillbirths, neonatal deaths, injured babies and mothers and maternal deaths dating back to 2012.

The review, which began in May 2022, is the largest in NHS history.

As part of her research, Ms Ockenden meets with the chief executive of Nottingham's hospitals, Anthony May, every two months.

He told ITV News Central: "I want to apologise to these women and families for the shortcomings identified and pain caused.

"I also apologise to anyone who has experienced racism in our hospitals. I want all of our patients and their families to engage with our services in the knowledge that they are free of discrimination.

"I know this isn't always happening, but we are reaching out to all communities to learn from the population we serve."

Mr May added that the Trust is taking many steps to improve the experience for new Mothers at Nottingham's hospitals.

He said: "We put lots of things in place that weren't there two years ago. Examples of that would include the way we're working with our communities, particularly around making our maternity services as inclusive as they can be.

"The way we're working to make the services safer, the way that we're learning from Donna and families about how to improve the experience of maternity care, a whole host of things that we're putting in place as a consequence of the feedback that Donna gives us."

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