‘Women deserve better’: state of maternity services is ‘cause for national shame’, Health Secretary says

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report, which brings together the findings from 131 inspections, said poor quality maternity care will become “normalised” and highlighted that many failings identified in recent high-profile investigations into NHS services are “more widespread”.

It has called for “increased national action” and ring-fenced investment into services in order to tackle shortfalls.

It comes after the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, described the quality of maternity care as “one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night worrying” and said the CQC findings are a “cause for national shame”.

Of the 131 units inspected as part of a national programme between August 2022 and December 2023, almost half (48 per cent) were rated as requires improvement or inadequate.

Only 4 per cent were classed as outstanding and 48 per cent were rated as good.

The CQC said the safety of maternity care “remains a key concern”.

No services inspected as part of the programme were rated outstanding for safety, with 47 per cent requiring improvement, 18 per cent rated inadequate and 35 per cent rated as good.

NHS maternity care has been under increased scrutiny in recent years after several high-profile inquiries, such as the Ockenden Review into more than 200 baby deaths at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, and the investigation into maternity services in East Kent.

The report said: “Many of the factors apparent at East Kent and Shrewsbury and Telford are more widespread.

“Key issues continue to impact quality and safety – and disappointingly, none of them are new.”

Speaking at an IPPR event yesterday, Mr Streeting said: “When it comes to the crisis in our maternity services across the country, it is one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night worrying about the quality of care being delivered today at the risk of disaster greeting women in labour tomorrow.

“I think that what we have seen, in the case of specific trusts, are problems and risk factors that exist right across maternity services across the country.”

“Women deserve better – childbirth should not be something they fear or look back on with trauma,” he said.

“It is simply unacceptable that nearly half of maternity units the CQC reviewed are delivering substandard care.”