We're calling for a national public inquiry on maternity safety
The lives of mums, babies and families depend on it.
We're a group of families campaigning in honour of our babies. They should be alive.
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- Beatrice Barley Beatrice Trudy Barley died during labour on 20th May 2022 because of basic failures in care at Barnsley Hospital. Beatrice was full term and absolutely perfect.
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- Giles Cooper-Hall Giles Cooper-Hall was born in October 2021 and died aged 16 hours because of a series of catastrophic failures in care at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth.
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- Aliona Winser-Ramm Aliona Grace Winser-Ramm was born on 1st January 2020, weighing 6lbs 6oz. She died aged 27 minutes. An inquest concluded she died of "midwife neglect" and "gross failures of the most basic nature" at Leeds General Infirmary.
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- Pippa Doman-Lees Pippa Maeve Doman-Lees died in May 2023 because of failings in antenatal care and during delivery at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust in Dudley.
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- Harriet Hawkins Harriet Hawkins died during labour in April 2016 after a series of failures and negligence by Nottingham University Hospitals throughout a six-day labour. Harriet weighed 6lbs 12oz and was completely perfect.
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- Marnie Barr Marnie Nevaeh Barr died avoidably during labour on 21st April 2020 at University Hospitals Dorset. She was a perfectly healthy full term (41+5) baby girl.
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- Joshua Titcombe Joshua Titcombe was born in October 2008 and died aged nine days because of failings in the care he received at Furness General Hospital, part of the Morecambe Bay NHS Trust.
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- Wynter Andrews Wynter Andrews died in September 2019 just 23 minutes after taking her first breath at a maternity unit which was perilously unsafe. Gross failings and hospital neglect denied our daughter her right to live.
Why we need a national public inquiry
Maternity care in England is broken. Every year, hundreds of babies die when with better care they would survive, and thousands of mums are left traumatised and physically injured. Reviews and investigations have found dangerous and unsafe care around the country, but despite promises that ‘lessons will be learned’ instead the same failings have continued. We’ve set out just some of the facts here. Click below to read more.
More babies are dying
Over the last few years the overall stillbirth and neonatal death rates have increased, while the number of full term babies dying during labour has increased from 118 in 2019/20 to 192 in 2022/23.
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More mothers are dying
The number of mums dying during pregnancy or in the weeks following birth has increased too, from 10.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2018-20, to 11.7 deaths per 100,000 in 2019-21.
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What we're asking for
It’s time now for a statutory national public inquiry to look at the whole maternity system in England, understand what’s going wrong and why, and fix it once and for all. Some of the things we want the national public inquiry to do are:
- Understand the true scale of maternity care failings
- Ensure the voices of women, families and staff are heard
- Look at staffing and resourcing, including issues with recruitment, retention, whistleblowers and bullying
- Take a deep dive into failures of regulators including CQC, NMC and GMC
- Look at the structure and commissioning of services to see if it can be improved
- Understand and tackle rotten culture, including women not being listened to, lack of care and respect, and normal birth ideology
- Look at clinical and non-clinical leadership failures and work out how to select and train better NHS leaders
- Review the existing systems of accountability and governance for maternity safety – and come up with proposals to fix them
- Look at education and training of clinicians
- Figure out how to fix the way deaths and other adverse events are investigated and learned from, so that lessons are truly learned
- Investigate how to eliminate inequalities by race, socio-economic status, and other vulnerabilities including autism
- Review and reform the legal framework for maternity, including inquests, stillbirths, and police powers
- Look at maternity improvement approaches, including at NHS England, and figure out how to make them work
- Learn from excellence in the UK and abroad
Get Involved
We need your help to secure a national public inquiry and make sure every mum and every baby receives the care they deserve.
Click on the images to get involved.
Our letter to Steve Barclay
In October 2023 we wrote to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay, to ask for a national public inquiry on maternity safety. Click the image to read our letter. We'll post an update here when we get a reply.
About Us
We are a group of bereaved parents, other family members, and maternity safety campaigners from across the country, brought together by our shared mission to ensure every mum and every baby receives safe and compassionate maternity care. Our founders are:
- Emily Barley, mother of Beatrice
- Dr Jack and Sarah Hawkins, parents of Harriet
- Catherine Roy, maternity safety campaigner