Chair of the Review
Donna Ockenden FRSA, Hon D.Litt, Hon D.Sci is a nurse, a midwife and community activist. She has more than 35 years’ experience within a variety of health settings both in the UK and internationally. Donna’s career spans a number of sectors including acute providers, commissioning, hospital, community and education. For over 20 years Donna has worked within a number of senior NHS leadership roles including more than 15 years’ experience as a Head of Midwifery and Clinical Director of Midwifery. Within the NHS, Donna also had five years’ experience as Divisional Director of two large Women and Children’s Divisions on the south coast and in London.
Donna was Co Clinical Director (Midwifery) 2013 to 2017, of the London Maternity Strategic Clinical Network working with Professor Donald Peebles as Co Clinical Director (Obstetrics).
Donna was the London Clinical Network Lead for the Maternity Bereavement Project developing the Maternity Bereavement Experience Measure (or MBEM). Launched in June 2017, this project was supported and funded by NHS England and developed in partnership with SANDS, the NHS England Patient Experience and Insight team and the London Maternity Bereavement Midwives Forum.
Donna was senior midwifery adviser to the chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), focussing on engagement with front line staff and maternity service users. She stepped away from this in spring 2020 role to focus on the maternity review at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
In 2017 Donna was appointed by the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, to chair the Independent review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust, the final report of which was published in spring 2022.
Donna has been a champion of patient safety in women’s and children’s health and maternity services from the very beginning of her career. Patient safety and family voices are at the heart of everything she does. Donna has also been committed to compassion and excellence in bereavement care since the very first days of her career as a student midwife in Portsmouth.
Internationally Donna was the co-author of the first national maternity standards in the Sultanate of Oman and led the successful introduction of those standards into practice across the Muscat region. In addition she led a multidisciplinary team plus parents, government representatives and faith leaders on the introduction of maternity and gynaecology bereavement standards first into Muscat and then subsequently rolled out nationally across the Sultanate of Oman.
Donna and her team work alongside a number of charities who are committed to ensuring the best and safest outcomes for mothers and their babies and that they receive safe care during the whole of their maternity journey and postnatal period. She is a proud to be an Ambassador for SANDS, a patron for MASIC and an honorary president of Baby Lifeline, the charity founded 40 years ago by Judy Ledger MBE following the personal tragedy of losing three premature babies.
In May 2022, Donna was appointed as the Chair of the Independent review into Maternity Services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust by the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP. The review officially started on the 1st September 2022. Donna leads a multi-professional team of more than 140 midwives, nurses and doctors for the independent maternity review at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Her leadership will ensure that family and staff voices will be heard, listened to and acted upon as the review progresses.
In 2023 Donna became patron of the MASIC Foundation, a charity that supports birth injured mothers and raises awareness of the life changing effects of an Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injury. At the same time she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of West London for her services to patient safety. In 2024 Donna was awarded Hon Doctor of Science from the University of Chichester.
Donna has extensive experience of working positively with multidisciplinary teams ‘on the ground’ including hospital teams, GPs, commissioners and service users to introduce sustainable and meaningful service change and improvement. Donna’s primary commitments within perinatal services is the provision of safe perinatal care for all and where it is required, that maternity bereavement care will always be kind and compassionate and delivered by staff who have the time and the skills to provide that care.
Throughout every aspect of her life, Donna believes in “be the best you can…” and does all she can to ensure this happens on daily basis.
Last Updated: Wednesday 26th February 2025
