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Nottingham maternity review delayed as 300 more families become involved

Hundreds more families are being added to the Nottingham maternity failings review, delaying its findings to next year.

Senior midwife Donna Ockenden is leading the probe into deaths and injuries of mothers and babies at Nottingham’s hospitals dating back to 2012.

More than 2,000 cases have been added to the process since it began in 2022, and the review was due to publish its findings in September this year.

This has now been pushed back to June 2026 after another 300 families joined the inquiry following an error between the hospitals and the review team.

Ms Ockenden said discrepancies had been spotted which meant some cases which should have been passed to the inquiry had been missed.

In a statement, Ms Ockenden said: “We would like to stress that this has arisen from a genuine misunderstanding. As a matter of urgency, these cases will be sent to the review team. This means they will be reviewed by our team, we can offer support to these families and the trust will learn from the experiences of these cases.”

Up to 300 families are likely to be added by the change, she said, taking the total number of families involved past 2,300.

Ms Ockenden said once the review closes to new cases at the end of May 2025, she expects about 2,500 families will be included.

Anthony May, Chief Executive of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is important that we use the Review to maximise learning and that all affected women and families are included.

“I support fully the decision to include new families, and I support the decision to extend the timetable.

“Since the start of the Review in September 2022, we have worked closely with Donna Ockenden and her team, and this will continue through to the report’s publication and beyond.

“While the Review is ongoing, we will continue to do everything we can to improve our maternity services further.

“It is clear that, thanks to a huge amount of work from colleagues in the service, we have achieved sustainable and evidenced improvements in our maternity services.”

The review is already the largest of its kind in the history of the NHS.

Nottinghamshire Police are also running their own criminal investigation into Nottingham’s maternity care, Operation Perth.