Latest Updates

Dear Families,

As you will already know, the Review is closing to new cases on 31^st May. The Review will publish in June 2026.

What does ‘closing to new cases’ mean?

The last date that families can come forward to the Review to share their experience with the Review team is by 11:59pm on the 31st May. This means that if a family contacts the Review team from 1st June onwards, unfortunately we will not be able to consider this case for inclusion within the Review. Families that establish contact before the closing date will still be invited to have a family meeting, but this will most likely take place after 31st May to allow time for our team to organise this for you. Any meetings already scheduled or currently in the process of being scheduled with a member of the Review team will still take place after 31^st May. 

What the closing date means for families already in the Review?

The closing date will not impact any of the families already included in the Review. The closing date refers to new cases joining the Review.

I am waiting to have a family meeting

All families were offered a meeting in their initial correspondence with the Review. Private family meetings with a senior member of our clinical team, will still be taking place after 31^st May.

If you are in the process of booking a family meeting, please be assured that the Review team are working towards finalising a time and date.

Will the Family Psychological Support Service still be in place after this date?

Yes. The Family Psychological Support Service (FPSS) will still be available to support families after 31^st May. FPSS will support families until after family feedback has been concluded. There is currently no end date for the FPSS service.

What will the Review team do after 31^st May?

The Review team will still meet with individual families that have requested a meeting, holding large family meetings, reviewing cases, writing personalised feedback and grading, analysing their findings, and writing the final report (including Immediate and Essential actions for national implementation, and Local Actions for Learning for NUH focussed improvements).

What does this mean for other families across Nottinghamshire that want to come forward before 31^st May?

There is still time for families across Nottinghamshire to share their experience of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The closing date (31^st May) is the last day that families that are not already in the Review to establish contact with the Review team. 

There are two ways that a family can be included in the Review. One, is through the family contacting the Review team. The second is through the ‘open book’ process. The ‘open book’ process refers to how the Trust looks through their records and shares all cases that meet the Terms of Reference with the Review team. 

Cases that are identified through the ‘open book’ process span the time period of 1^st January 2012 to 31^st May 2025 (except for maternal deaths, the time period spans from the formation of the Trust in 2006 to 31^st May 2025) Families that are identified by the Trust through this process, may not be shared with the Review team until after 31^st May, meaning that these families will receive initial contact after this date.

Why is the Review closing to new cases on the 31^st May?

The Review is closing to new cases on the 31^st May as this allows time for the Review team to finish reviewing each case, write personalised family feedback, analyse our findings, and write the final report.

What does this mean for families that come forward after the 31^st May?

Any families that come forward to the Review team after the 31^st May will be signposted to the appropriate support. We are currently in the process of confirming this pathway with NHS England (NHSE), Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to ensure that any families that would like to raise concerns after the 31^st May, feel supported in knowing how to navigate this process. This information will be made available on our website.

Any families that share information of significant concern will be escalated (with their permission) to the Trust’s Chief Executive, Anthony May.  Donna Ockenden as Review Chair will also be writing to a range of other organisations to ensure that any families unable to join the Review after 31^st May will be appropriately assisted and supported. 

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact the Review team – we are here to help and support you.

Thank you.

Very best wishes,

Donna Ockenden

Today, the thoughts of all the Independent Review team are with the parents, grandparents, and families of babies Adele, Quinn, and Kahlani. 

The Independent Review promises that Adele, Quinn, Kahlani & their families will have their voices heard and amplified through the Review. The fine of £1.6million to Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust for the avoidable failings the families suffered cannot turn the clock back or bring back their babies. Nor can it bring back the lives the families had before these failings. 

The Review team commits that the short lives of Kahlani, Quinn and Adele will bring about long lasting and sustainable change in maternity safety both in Nottinghamshire, and nationally. Everyone is born: therefore the provision of safe maternity care for all mothers and babies needs to be the highest of NHS priorities – today and going forward.

As part of our commitment to remain open and honest throughout the duration of the Review, we try to provide updates to all families within the Review, as often and as sensitively, as we can. 

Please read the following update from Donna Ockenden, Chair of the Review, about the Review’s progress and what this means for families that are part of the Review.

As of today, 2,032 families have joined the Review. To be included within the Review, a family must meet the Terms of Reference for the Review. The way in which we receive information about a family to be included in the Review is either through direct contact from the family; and/or, the Review team receive information from the Trust through the ‘open book’ process. The ‘open book’ process, is the term used to describe the way in which the Trust look through their records to see if any cases meet the Terms of Reference of the Review. 

We have been working with Anthony May, Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and his colleagues to ensure that all appropriate cases are included in the Independent Review. This work has identified some discrepancies. These discrepancies are cases that should have been provided to the Review, but were not. The discrepancies relate to the following categories:

• Babies who have died
• Babies with brain injury
• Mothers who have died

We would like to stress that this has arisen from a genuine misunderstanding. As a matter of urgency, these cases will be sent to the Review Team. This means they will be reviewed by our team, we can offer support to these families and the Trust will learn from the experiences of these cases.

As a result, the number of families that are to be included in the Review will significantly increase; this is expected to be up to 300 new families. We expect that the numbers of families in the Review (when the Review closes to new cases at the end of May 2025) to be about 2,500 families. 

Families will remember that we have always said we would do our very best to publish our report at the end of September 2025. When we made this commitment, we had approximately 1,700 families in the Review. Even without the new families joining the Review the number of families has increased as of today to 2,032. With the new families joining the Review we are letting you know we will have to delay publication of the report until June 2026, with family feedback to follow after publication. This will give the Review team the opportunity to provide support to all families, and to allow for all cases to be reviewed to the highest professional standards that all of us expect. The Terms of Reference will be updated to reflect the new publication date and the date the Review closes to new cases.

We recognise that this update may be difficult for some families to hear, so if you feel as though you need extra support at this time please contact the Review team, or the Family Psychological Support Service (FPSS). We are here to help you wherever we can. Please remember that you can contact the Family Psychological Support Service by:

Phone: 0115 200 1000

Email: enquiries@fpssnottingham.co.uk

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Chief Constable Kate Meynell said: “On Wednesday I met with Donna Ockenden to discuss her Independent Review into  maternity cases of potentially significant concern  at  Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH)  and to build up a clearer picture of the work that is taking place.

We want to work alongside the review but also ensure that we do not hinder its progress.

However, I am in a position to say we are preparing to launch a police investigation

I have appointed the Assistant Chief Constable, Rob Griffin to oversee the preparations and the subsequent investigation.  

We are currently looking at the work being done in Shrewsbury and Telford   by  West Mercia Police  to understand how they conducted their investigation alongside Donna Ockenden’s review and any lessons learnt.

Now we have met with Donna Ockenden we plan to  hold preliminary discussions with some local families in the near future.  

 Anthony May, Chief executive of NUH has committed to fully cooperate with this Police Investigation”

Donna Ockenden, Chair of the Independent Review of Maternity Services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust said: ‘I welcome the news that the new Chief Constable Kate Meynell has decided to commence an investigation into maternity services. I know that a number of the affected families have been asking for this for many years.

As the Review Chair my team and I are absolutely committed to working with the Police. I am grateful to the Chief Constable for her assurance that the Police investigation will not delay the progress of our work.

Having spoken to hundreds of families in the last year I am very aware that this news whilst long awaited may well be unsettling for many families. Please remember that support is available for all families who are part of the review. There is information on our website and our team can help you with a referral for that support. You can reach out to us via support@donnaockenden.com

My team and I also recognise that this is a difficult time for maternity staff at the Trust. We recognise that the vast majority of staff give of their very best every day of the week. If you have not already done so – we encourage you to reach out to the Review team via staffvoices@donnaockenden.com’

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust is holding its Annual Public Meeting on Monday 10th July 2023, 12.00–3.30pm at Nottingham Trent University, City Campus. At this meeting there will be an update on the ongoing independent review and the work the Trust is doing to improve maternity services.

Donna Ockenden and several of the families affected by the failures in maternity care will be present at this meeting to hear what the Trust has to say, however ahead of the meeting the Trust have issued a statement saying that they will be publicly committing to a new honest and transparent relationship with the families whose lives have been affected by maternity failings at the Trust.

Read joint media release from Donna Ockenden and the NUHT Family Group

Read press release from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

‘The death of Wynter Andrews so soon after her birth in 2019 is a tragedy, the effects of which will remain with her parents Sarah and Gary and her little brother Bowie forever. We are already clear from the inquest held in 2020 that Wynter’s death was an avoidable tragedy; put simply it should not have happened.

Since Wynter died Sarah, Gary and their family have campaigned tirelessly for improvements to maternity safety and for better bereavement support for families when a child or baby dies. This will be the legacy that Wynter leaves us all. 

As Chair of the independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust my team and I give our wholehearted commitment to support improvements in maternity services at the Trust and across Nottinghamshire.

Already, in the early days of our independent review we are aware of the pain and anguish suffered by other families like Sarah and Gary.  We promise them that their voices will be heard and their experiences will make a difference. ‘

Donna Ockenden urges families to come forward for the Nottingham maternity review

The midwife leading a review into Nottingham’s maternity services has urged families and staff to come forward with their experiences. Donna Ockenden was appointed in May to head the inquiry into the services at Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital.

It was launched after more than 100 families with experiences of maternity failings wrote to former Health Secretary Sajid Javid demanding the action. A much-criticised initial review was subsequently scrapped.

Ms Ockenden, who uncovered 200 avoidable baby deaths at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust across two decades, said the review is now open to families, NHS workers and others who wish to contribute.

read more

Donna Ockenden: families will be ‘at the heart’ of review into NUH maternity services

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden says families will be “at the heart” of a new review into Nottingham’s inadequate maternity services.

Ms Ockenden today visited Nottingham ahead of chairing her own independent review into Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH), where maternity units are rated ‘inadequate’ by inspectors and dozens of babies have died or been injured.

On July 11 she also met a number of harmed families ahead of reviewing the services provided at both the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital.

The review will officially start in September 2022 and is expected to last around 18 months – depending on the number of families who come forward.

read more