The government has finalised the membership of its National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce while Scotland publishes new maternity standards.
The government has finalised the membership of its National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which will look into reports from Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, and her independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England.
Amos published her initial impressions in December into 14 hospital trusts as part of a rapid, independent, national investigation into maternity and neonatal services and published her bleak interim report at the beginning of March.
The national investigation was launched in July last year by health and social care secretary Wes Streeting to drive urgent improvements to care and safety after a number of high-profile cases and rising medical negligence claims.
The expert panel includes families, senior NHS leaders, royal colleges, campaigners, academics and third sector representatives who collectively have the clinical expertise, lived experience and sector know-how to deliver the changes.
“I ordered an independent national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services to make sure families harmed by maternity care get the truth and accountability they deserve,” said health and social care secretary Wes Streeting who will chair the taskforce.
Task force named
The minister has said that he will chair regular roundtables with the new taskforce, with the first priority to agree its terms of reference and to hear from Amos on her interim findings.
Other than Streeting, taskforce members include Gillian Merron, Baroness Merron, parliamentary under-secretary for women’s health and mental health; Duncan Burton, chief nursing officer for England; Helen Gittos, Gary Andrews, Lauren Caulfield and Cathy Brewster as family representatives; Habib Naqvi, chief executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory; Nina Johns, consultant obstetrician and clinical director at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust; Helen Cheyne, professor of maternal and child health research at the University of Stirling; Avey Bhatia, chief nurse at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust; Louise Stead, chief executive of Ashford and St Peter’s and Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trusts; Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives; Alison Wright, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; Clea Harmer, chief executive of Sands; and Helene Normann, senior adviser and chief midwifery officer at the Norwegian Directorate of Health.
A representative of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health or British Association of Perinatal Medicine is still to be confirmed.
Following the publication of the investigation’s recommendations, the government has said that taskforce’s membership may be further refined, to ensure it is best equipped to achieve and act on Baroness Amos recommendations which are expected in June.
New maternity standards
In Scotland, which has been undergoing its own maternity review, new maternity standards have been published by Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
These cover all aspects of maternity care, from antenatal appointments through to postnatal support, emergency care, mental health and wellbeing, and bereavement care. They apply across all settings, including hospitals, community services, midwifery units and home births.
“The standards aim to promote consistency and improve the quality of maternity services across the country. They set out a blueprint for what good maternity care looks like and detail the levels of high-quality care and support that all women should expect to receive before, during and after birth,” said Melissa Dowdeswell, director of nursing and integrated care at Healthcare Improvement Scotland.
An initial on-site inspection of Scotland’s eight major maternity units is expected to complete by the end of March with full publication by the summer.
So far, all of the hospitals that have been investigated have come up short – most recently Ayrshire Maternity Unit, University Hospital Crosshouse, NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
