Maternity services have been invited to bid for money from a new Challenge Fund aimed at finding innovative ways to use patient feedback to improve services. Emails with full details have gone out to chief executives of all trusts inviting them to put in their bids to be among the two to four projects that […]

Maternity services in England must become safer, more personalised, kinder, professional and more family-friendly. That’s the vision of the National Maternity Review, which today (Tuesday) publishes its recommendations for how services should change over the next five years. The NHS England commissioned review – led by independent experts and chaired by Baroness Julia Cumberlege – […]

NHS England is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Matthew Jolly (MBBS MD MRCOG) as the National Clinical Director for Maternity Review and Women’s Health. Matthew is an experienced clinician who is committed to providing excellent individual care and to the strategic improvement of maternity services and women’s health. He qualified at St. Mary’s […]

Following publication of the Report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation, Sir Bruce Keogh, National Medical Director, was asked to review the professional codes of practice of doctors and nurses and to ensure that the right incentives are in place to prevent people from covering up, instead of reporting and learning from mistakes. In a letter […]

Thousands of pregnant women have confronted mental health issues before they become more serious thanks to a thriving perinatal mental health service in Devon. Since it began five years ago the ten-strong Devon and Torbay Perinatal Health Team has identified, supported or signposted thousands of women who needed mental health support. Now, all of the […]

Baroness Julia Cumberlege is to lead a major review of maternity services which is set to modernise care for women and babies across the country, NHS England announced today. The programme of work will assess current maternity care provision and consider how services should be developed to meet the changing needs of women and babies. […]

The Health Secretary today asked Sir Bruce Keogh to carry out a review of codes of practice for health professionals The move by Jeremy Hunt came as a report into the failings over the deaths of mothers and babies at Morecambe Bay was made public. The review to be carried out by Sir Bruce, NHS […]

We are deeply saddened by the tragic and inexcusable events described in this report. They should never have happened, and they must never be allowed to happen again. Our fundamental purpose is to ensure that every NHS patient is offered safe, honest and compassionate care, but the report is unequivocal that the care provided to […]

NHS England has today announced details of a major review of the commissioning of NHS maternity services, as promised in the NHS Five Year Forward View. The review will assess current maternity care provision and consider how services should be developed to meet the changing needs of women and babies. Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of […]

Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England have issued  a patient safety alert (17 June) temporarily advising against the use in the home of birthing pools with built-in heaters and recirculation pumps, potentially filled up to two weeks in advance of the birth. This follows a single case of Legionnaires’ disease identified in a baby […]