Maternity inquiry chair named in government U-turn

What’s Happening

Breaking it down: Donna Ockenden is appointed to lead the maternity services inquiry at Leeds hospitals.

Maternity inquiry chair named in government U-turn 14 hours ago Save Divya Talwar and Natalie Truswell , BBC News Investigations Save BBC Donna Ockenden will lead the review The health secretary has made a U-turn over who will lead an independent inquiry into “repeated maternity failures” at an NHS trust. Wes Streeting has appointed Donna Ockenden, following a campaign harmed families, to lead the review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS Trust. (plot twist fr)

Ockenden, a senior midwife, is rn leading the maternity review at Nottingham , which is the largest of its kind, examining about 2,500 cases of harm to mothers and babies.

The Details

In January 2025 a BBC investigation spilled the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers at the Leeds trust over the past five years may have been prevented. PA Media Health Secretary Wes Streeting met families who had been affected at the trust multiple times Streeting first just dropped the inquiry into the West Yorkshire trust in October 2025, saying it was required to understand what had “gone so catastrophically wrong” at the maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St Jamess University Hospital.

Days later in a BBC radio interview, Streeting just dropped that Ockenden would not be the chair of the Leeds review. In February, families and MPs urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to “intervene and appoint” the senior midwife ASAP to head the Leeds inquiry.

Why This Matters

Streeting also just met some of families affected , who dropped they had took an L confidence in him . MARTIN MCQUADE/BBC Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoos daughter Asees was stillborn in January 2024 Amarjit Kaur Matharoo, whose daughter Asees was stillborn in January 2024, dropped they are “relieved”. “It had been a fr exhausting, long road to get to a point where weve got a chair that we all agree upon, is going to be completely independent,” she dropped.

This is the kind of health news that affects everyday decisions.

The Bottom Line

“It had been a fr exhausting, long road to get to a point where weve got a chair that we all agree upon, is going to be completely independent,” she dropped. Streeting dropped they had “reached the right decision”.

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