England to get powerful maternity commissioner after ‘shocking’ failings

Lady Amos concluded that for many women ‘the care they receive is not good enough and can result in avoidable harm’. Photograph: Halfpoint Images/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Lady Amos concluded that for many women ‘the care they receive is not good enough and can result in avoidable harm’. Photograph: Halfpoint Images/Getty Images England to get powerful maternity commissioner after ‘shocking’ failings Health secretary announces move after Amos review finds childbirth and neonatal care in need of ‘urgent reform’ Analysis: Transparency, standards and a new commissioner – but does maternity review go far enough? A powerful maternity commissioner will be appointed to push through an urgent transformation of childbirth care in England after a major review concluded that it had multiple failings. Ministers have bowed to growing pressure by agreeing to recruit the UK’s first commissioner for maternity and neonatal care. Whoever takes on the role will pursue hospitals over persistent failures in care, ensure wide-ranging improvements are made and try to restore the faith of families in a maternity system in England that has been rocked by a series of scandals. James Murray, the health secretary, announced the move in response to Valerie Amos’s government-commissioned inquiry of maternity care, which concluded it was a system characterised by poor care and a failure to listen to women, and was plagued by racism and discrimination. “The maternity and neonatal system in England is no longer fit to consistently deliver high-quality, compassionate care to every woman and family, and requires urgent reform to put safety at its centre, embed a focus on listening to women and ensure anti-racist practice at every level,” she found. Lady Amos’s report is the second in less than a week to advise ministers to instigate a dramatic overhaul to reduce the risk of mothers and babies suffering harm or dying because of errors and receiving inadequate care from the NHS. Donna Ockenden, the author of last week’s inquiry into the Nottingham maternity scandal , is widely expected to become the new commissioner. The appointee will also co-chair with the health secretary the government’s national maternity and neonatal taskforce. It is drawing up an action plan to improve care, which is due in December. “I still find it shocking that women and babies have been harmed or have died, sometimes as a result of failings in the maternity and neonatal care provided. We are a wealthy country. It should not happen,” Amos said in the 181-page report of her nine month-long investigation. “Having a baby should be one of the happiest moments of a family’s life. For most women in England, it is. But for too many – depending on where they live, who they are or simply the day they give birth – the care they receive is not good enough and can result in avoidable harm. “Every instance of avoidable harm is one too many. The emotional toll and cost to families is indescribable. As a coun