New Leeds midwifery director questioned over ‘normal birth’ ideology letter and previous NHS roles
Sascha Wells-Munro has previously been awarded an OBE for services to NHS and patient safety.
The new midwifery director at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTHT) held senior roles at another NHS trust during the time of a critical review into its maternity services, The Yorkshire Post can reveal.
Earlier this week, LTHT appointed Sascha Wells-Munro as its new midwifery director, with the former deputy chief midwifery officer for England joining from York and Scarborough NHS Trust.
The appointment comes at a critical time for LTHT with senior midwife Donna Ockenden embarking on an independent review into failures at its maternity and neonatal services.
A BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past six years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is now representing more than 50 families in action against the trust.
From 2012 to 2023, the rate of stillbirths and newborn baby deaths at LTHT rose rapidly become the worst nationally, culminating in 2025 Care Quality Commission ratings of inadequate for maternity and requires improvement for neonatal services.
Ms Wells-Munro, who has an OBE for NHS and patient safety, said: “I recognise the challenges that lie ahead, but I have already been struck by the determination and commitment of teams in Leeds to deliver the changes families want and deserve.
“We will work openly and transparently with families, the Independent Review team and our regulators, ensuring that we learn, improve and make meaningful, lasting changes.
“Much of this work has already begun, and I know there is still more to do. I am committed to building on that foundation by ensuring the voices of families, communities and colleagues help shape our future direction.”
Prior to working at York and Scarborough, Ms Wells-Munro held senior roles at Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust during the time of the highly critical Kirkup Review.
Published in 2015, but covering the period from 2004 to 2013, the independent investigation into maternity services at Furness General Hospital found 20 major failures which led to the deaths of 11 babies and 1 mother.
The most notable of these was Joshua Titcombe in 2008. Ms Wells-Munro was head of midwifery, gynaecology and obstetrics at the trust from 2011 to 2014 and then midwifery director from 2014 to 2018.
The Kirkup Review praised Ms Wells-Munro for tackling governance issues after her appointment in May 2011, saying: “There is now closer working between the commissioners of the maternity services, with a joint specification and agreed key performance indicators.”
It added that Ms Wells-Munro is “clearly offering enthusiastic and committed leadership to midwives across the trust and particularly at FGH. Nevertheless, we do have significant concerns”.
The review explained: “We saw and heard evidence that untoward incidents with worryingly similar features to those seen previously had occurred as recently as mid-2014.
“There are limits to what one individual can achieve, however enthusiastic and committed, and we are not convinced that the change in midwifery leadership has yet been matched by a comparable improvement in medical leadership at divisional level.”
In 2017, the Morecambe Bay Trust came out of special measures in what the CQC described as a “remarkable turnaround”.
The Leeds bereaved families group, who have lost babies over maternity failures with their care at the trust, also raised concerns about Ms Wells-Munro signing a letter which claimed “normal birth” ideology in the NHS “is a distortion … coined by journalists”.
This is the theory that a natural birth without medical intervention is superior to procedures such as C-sections.
However, this approach has been blamed for late interventions leading to poor care.
The letter, signed by thousands of people, states: “Physiological birth is not ideology; it is biology.”
The midwife strategy followed by LTHT in 2015 saw all parts of the maternity service expected to actively promote normal birth, according to The Sunday Times.
He said “pressure to avoid caesarean sections and to promote ‘normal birth’ contributed to avoidable harm and loss of life”, citing the Morecambe Bay Review which criticised midwives for pursuing normal birth “at any cost”.
In a statement, the Leeds bereaved families group said: “We are further concerned by Ms Wells-Munro’s involvement in the signing of a public letter last year which denied the existence of normal birth ideology in midwifery.
“We know that this has been a serious issue in Leeds, with a number of staff having already previously disclosed a ‘wait and see culture’ at LTHT.”
They continued: “This will be a specific area examined by Donna Ockenden which is listed in the terms of reference for the Leeds inquiry. Families will need an absolute guarantee that Wells-Munro does not think the problem of ‘normal birth’ ideology is a media invention.”
On Ms Wells-Munro’s previous roles, they added: “The previous links of Ms Wells-Munro to Morcambe Bay, who worked there between 2011-2018 does cause potential concern.”
Dr Elizabeth Garthwaite, chief medical officer at LTHT, said: “We would like to reassure all families that the trust’s main priority is always patient safety and this guides any decisions about labour and birth, together with the informed choice of the family.
“We will continue to listen to families and work with them to make further improvements to our maternity and neonatal services.”