Donna Ockenden confirmed to lead Sussex maternity investigation

The Health Secretary has announced that Donna Ockenden has been appointed to lead the independent review into maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust.

It comes after families who had experienced bereavement and harm under the trust’s care campaigned government to appoint senior midwife Ockenden – who has led three other maternity investigations in the last decade – to head up the new Sussex review.

In 2016, Ockenden led a landmark review into maternity failings at Shrewsberry and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Her final report revealed that a total of 201 babies and nine mothers could of, or would of, survived if the NHS Trust had provided better care. A total of 600 cases of medical negligence were linked with the inquiry and investigated by police.

In 2022, she started another independent maternity services investigation at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which is still ongoing and findings are due to be released in 2026.

Nearly 2,000 cases of possible harm to babies and mothers between 2010 and 2020 are being investigated in Nottingham, making it the UK’s biggest review into maternity services.

Earlier this year, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced another independent review into maternity care in England – this time at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s Hospital, following a large number of mother and baby deaths. Ockenden was appointed to lead the team.

Speaking about the new University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust review, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “It was really important that we get this review up and running, that it has the confidence of families who’ve campaigned really hard to get to today, and have suffered, as I’ve heard on so many occasions now first hand, the most unimaginable, painful trauma.”