Exclusive:Wes Streeting: Leeds bereaved maternity families have suffered 'some of the worst NHS failures'
The Health Secretary said the bereaved families in the Leeds maternity scandal were “decisive” in convincing him to eventually appoint Donna Ockenden as chair of the inquiry.
Wes Streeting has said that the stories of the bereaved families in the Leeds maternity scandal - who have suffered “some of the worst NHS failures” - were “decisive” in convincing him to eventually appoint Donna Ockenden as chair of the inquiry.
Last October, after a meeting with grieving parents, the Health Secretary announced a specific inquiry into failings in maternal and neonatal care in the West Yorkshire city.
A BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is representing more than 30 families in action against the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
However, in the intervening months, Mr Streeting rebuffed the calls of the families, who requested senior midwife Donna Ockenden as the chair.
She previously led an inquiry into mother and baby deaths at hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford, and is currently working on a similar investigation at Nottingham.
The Health Secretary said that he did not believe Ms Ockenden could undertake the Leeds inquiry with her current role in the East Midlands.
However, last month, following reporting by this paper that the families had “lost faith” in him, Mr Streeting changed his mind.
He has now told The Yorkshire Post the circumstances that led to this U-turn, saying representations from the bereaved parents was “decisive”.
He said: “I’ve worked really closely with the Leeds families and they convinced me first of all that this inquiry was necessary.
“Having agreed with their case, it was really important to me that these people, who have been the victims of some of the worst NHS failures and have frankly lost so much trust and faith in anyone in authority in public service, … needed to have confidence in the person leading this review.
“They were very clear that they were willing to wait for Donna Ockenden to get this review up and running.
“She’s just concluding her work in Nottingham, and that was quite a decisive factor.
“Having listened to families and met with them several times, and corresponded with them many times, I’m really glad that we got to an agreed position.”
After being appointed, Ms Ockenden said she feels a “profound sense of responsibility to the parents, babies and healthcare professionals it concerns to ensure that we get this right”.
"This review must remain firmly focused on the families who, in many instances, have waited far too long for answers to questions about their care,” she added.
The bereaved families had previously questioned whether “our children [are] less valuable, less important than theirs”, referring to the current Nottingham inquiry, before Ms Ockenden was appointed.
Fiona Winser-Ramm was one of the parents who brought a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for Ms Ockenden to be appointed.
Her daughter Aliona died less than half an hour after she was born in 2020.
The inquest found “a number of gross failures … directly contributed” to Aliona’s death, after it was revealed concerns around her heart rate had not been acted on.
She previously said: “We aren’t prepared to take a second-rate, superficial inquiry into Leeds, and that’s why we felt we had to escalate it to the Prime Minister.