24 September 2024

There have been many high-profile investigations and reports into maternity safety within NHS Trusts in the past years. 

UCLH Maternity service is focused on making well-informed improvements to maternity services as a team of midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists, obstetric anaesthetists, GPs, paramedics etc and centrally including families,

We are committed to ensuring important lessons learned and recommendations are implemented into our services to ensure high quality and safe care of mothers and babies. 

We would like to express our sincere condolences to the parents and families directly and indirectly affected by the content in the reports.

If you are currently pregnant or planning for a baby and have any questions or concerns, please get in touch so we can help. You can talk to a member of our maternity team by emailing Lyndsey.smith3@nhs.net  (Director of Midwifery). Alternatively, you can contact our patient advice and liaison service by emailing uclh.pals@nhs.net.

We would also like you to know that UCLH is committed to an open and honest culture where the safety of all our patients and colleagues is a key priority.

Nina Khazaezadeh, Chief Midwife for London:

"We welcome the CQC report and resources. We know the report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has highlighted areas where maternity services need to improve. From my conversations with service users, clinicians and maternity leaders across the capital, we remain committed to working collectively with our service users, our stakeholders and national colleagues to review the report's findings and recommendations and gather local insights

We are listening and taking the learning seriously when things go wrong, and we are committed to working hard to ensure that maternity care is safe for everyone.

We recognise that the findings in the report may be concerning and worrying for our expectant parents. It is important for pregnant women and birthing people to seek help when needed to ensure that midwives and doctors can listen to your concerns and act and respond to your needs. Please reach out to your maternity providers or the local Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership, who can guide you to the right team to ensure your needs are met.

We want you to know that we are here for you. If you would like to share your feedback, wish to seek support for your care or learn how we are working to improve our services, please contact your local Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP or MVP) at uclhmaternityvoices@gmail.com.

We are pleased to see Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust highlighted in the improvement resource published alongside the CQC report where their work for sharing and embedding learning, and effective use of telephone triage is recognised."

Sarah Espenhahn, Maternity Service user Voice Lead for London:

"I welcome the CQC report which identifies the scale of the challenges faced by maternity services in their journey to provide high-quality compassionate care for all women, birthing people and families. I am working with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnerships (MNVPs) across London, who are listening and working collaboratively with services users, staff and other stakeholders to codesign and improve services to reflect the needs of the local women, birthing people and their families.”

NHS chief midwifery officer Kate Brintworth said:

“Despite the hard work of NHS staff, we know that, for large numbers of women and families, NHS maternity care simply isn’t at the level they should expect and there is a lot to do to improve.

“We are grateful to the Care Quality Commission for sharing the insights in this report, which will help the NHS continue its improvement of maternity services. We know there is much more we need to do to drive up standards of care and build on improvements already made, and we will continue to provide intensive support to the most challenged trusts and support a growth in the maternity workforce.”