Ockenden review to detail maternity failings at Nottingham hospitals

The independent review, set up by NHS England in May 2022, has examined about 2,500 cases across a 13-year period, from January 2012 to May 2025, with more than 800 staff members involved. Families bereaved or harmed by Nottingham University Hospitals were due to hear Donna Ockenden’s findings on 24 June 2026. Families affected by the review were expected to hear the findings first, with harmed and bereaved parents also due to hold a press conference in response.

The review was originally expected in September 2025 but was pushed back to June 2026 after more families came forward and the scope widened to include babies born outside Nottingham University Hospitals but transferred in the neonatal period for specialist care.

Nottingham University Hospitals says the review is the largest of its kind in NHS history and that it has already been receiving interim feedback through bi-monthly learning and improvement meetings. In March 2025, revisits by the Care Quality Commission in June and July 2024 raised no immediate safety actions or concerns, and the trust had received a draft report in December 2024 but no final report had been published because of system issues at the regulator. The trust also said its maternity ratings at Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital were improved to Requires Improvement in September 2023.

Earlier trust reporting identified a catalogue of failures families have long said should have triggered stronger action. Those themes included racist and discriminatory behaviour, failures to appreciate cultural sensitivities, a lack of translation and interpreting provision, women not being believed when they said they were in labour, and women not being listened to when they reported feeling unwell. Limited access to birth reflection and obstetric debrief services was also flagged.

On 15 September 2025, the government announced a rapid national investigation into maternity and neonatal services at 14 NHS trusts after earlier reviews showed a pattern of similar failings across England, including women’s voices being ignored, safety concerns overlooked and poor leadership creating toxic cultures. Nottingham has already faced an £800,000 fine in January 2023 after failings in the death of baby Wynter Andrews, and the Nursing and Midwifery Council said in March 2026 that it was changing how it works after hearing concerns from families involved in the Nottingham review.