Luke Mintz
World at One reporter

Sir Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary, has said he fears Donna Ockenden's review into maternity care could be "yet another report that ultimately gathers dust", unless the NHS takes serious action.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's World at One programme on Wednesday afternoon, Sir Jeremy said: "The NHS is the world champion at doing these reports and then not doing anything to implement them."

Asked about Ockenden's findings, he said: "The sad truth is that a lot more of this is common across the NHS than we might like to think.

"We're seeing a pattern now. It's time the NHS sets up a structured system so that when you have these public reports, when you have recommendations from select committees, from coroner's courts, something actually happens.

"That is the thing that is not happening at the moment. And unless that is addressed, I'm afraid this will be yet another report that ultimately gathers dust."

But Sir Jeremy also said he was "reluctant" to back calls for a full statutory inquiry in Nottingham maternity failings.

He said: "That's another five years, and that's another excuse for ministers to say 'well, we've got to wait until the public inquiry reports, and then we'll make our decisions'."

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Lizzy Bella
BBC Newsbeat

Mollie Sutton has been waiting for the outcome of today's inquiry.

She believes mistreatment by medical staff during her labour at a Nottingham hospital in 2018 led to her son Rupert being disabled.

The mother of three, who is now 27, shared her experiences with Donna Ockenden's team.

"Throughout my entire labour, there was neglect and failures," she told BBC Newsbeat. "I was being verbally abused by my midwife, I wasn't given any privacy or dignity."

Mollie has been fighting for her son - who she said had the mental capacity of a four-month-old - for years and said she wanted the inquiry to lead to improvements.

"What we want and we really need is accountability and justice," she said. "We need change to happen fast."

Secondary victims of maternity trauma may be able to bring their own cases against trusts for mental health issues caused by their partners or their babies being injured or dying in delivery.

Health Secretary James Murray said he had spoken to families who had asked him to raise the issue.

He said: "Fathers, partners and others are actively encouraged to be present to support mothers through labour and delivery, however the law does not allow them to bring their own claims for the psychiatric illness suffered as a direct result of witnessing their partner or baby suffer injury or die."

Murray said he had asked barrister and former Labour MP David Lock KC, who is reviewing clinical negligence for the government, to work with civil servants on the issue.

The health secretary also said he would be speaking to the chief executive of NUH, Anthony May, next week to discuss the trust's response to the Ockenden review.

Pete Saull
Political correspondent, BBC East Midlands

Robert Jenrick, Reform UK MP for Newark, spoke in the Commons of constituents who felt like they "were being shooed out of a restaurant by a rude waiter" - moments after they had to say goodbye to their baby.

His reaction comes after an address to the House by Health Secretary James Murray, who earlier apologised for widespread failings on behalf of the NHS.

Joe McFadden
Health reporter

In its response to the Ockenden review, the government announced that anyone responsible for failures would be compelled to give evidence to investigations into poor maternity care.

But how will this work?

While statutory inquiries can compel witnesses to give evidence under oath, independent reviews do not have this power.

The government is suggesting they will use duty of candour laws in the Public Office (Accountability) Bill - also known as the Hillsborough Law Bill - which is currently going through Parliament.

The government intends to use this in the upcoming Leeds and Sussex maternity reviews, after some senior leaders refused to take part in the Nottingham review.

But it's still unclear how exactly this will be enforced.

The press conference held by the families has drawn to a close, but our reporter at the Crowne Plaza in Nottingham will be speaking to them separately shortly.

Michael Buchanan
Social Affairs Correspondent, BBC News

In November 2018, more than 50 staff at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre signed an open letter to health bosses warning the hospital's maternity services were in crisis and urgent action was needed.

The letter cited chronic understaffing, a scarcity of critical safety equipment and a "dire lack of leadership".

However, management reaction to the letter was "inadequate", its author told me recently. It was effectively ignored.

As the findings of the Nottingham maternity review reveals the shocking extent of mistakes that were made, what happened to that letter in 2018 goes to the heart of why maternity care in England is viewed as failing too many families.

• Read my full analysis: A letter sent by worried staff shows why maternity care is still failing too many families

Addressing the trust directly, Gary Andrews - whose daughter Wynter died 23 minutes after being born in 2019 - said: "If you'd listened to concerns, there would be hundreds of babies still alive.

"Wynter would still be here - and her brother would not be looking at a gravestone."

In 2023 NUH were fined £800,000 after admitting failings in Wynter's care. At the time it was the largest handed out to an NHS trust over maternity care.

Image source, PA Media

On the question of a statutory public inquiry - which would compel witnesses to give evidence and something the families have called for today - Health Secretary James Murray said: "I just want to be clear, no options are off the table."

Emily Stringer - whose daughter Caitlyn suffered serious injuries - said the families "recognise there were good staff" who were working in a "bad environment".

"They were also victims," she said.

"Only accountability can incentivise that culture change in maternity services."

Families at the press conference in Nottingham are now answering questions from the media.

Sarah Hawkins - bereaved parent of daughter Harriet and a whistleblower of the maternity scandal, alongside Dr Jack Hawkins - said she felt let down by those who cared for her.

Sarah was a senior physiotherapist and Jack was a consultant doctor.

She said: "We dedicated our careers to the NHS - I thought I would trust my colleagues - I was low risk. Then to be treated during my six-day labour like I was, I couldn't compute it.

"After Harriet died - the cover-up was horrific, we knew this because we knew the system."

Asked what accountability looks like moving forward, Jack added those who cared for Sarah and Harriet should be "brought before the courts".

Image source, BBC/Chris Waring

Warning: This post contains details that some may find distressing

Murray has also detailed the way in which the bodies of dead babies were wrongly handled by NUH.

His voice faltered as he said failures at maternity services showed there was a "level of disrespect and lack of humanity that, I’ll be honest, left me aghast".

He said babies were referred to as a "specimen or sample", that a baby was placed in a mortuary space which was already occupied by an "unknown and unrelated adult", a baby disposed of as clinical waste against the wishes of their parents, and another baby's body kept in a domestic fridge in a bereavement room.

He told MPs: "The emotional and psychological effect of these dehumanising failures was to lay out the most profound disrespect on the most unbearable distress. There is also evidence that the trust actively decided not to report failings in mortuary care to families."

He said he had asked NHS England to write to trusts to ensure failings were not repeated elsewhere.

He added the Human Tissue Authority would require all mortuaries to review internal records over the last decade to ensure all incidents had been logged and reported. Staff will have to report back by 16 October.

Continuing to address the House of Commons, Health Secretary James Murray apologised to the families affected.

He said: "To all of those who have suffered so appallingly, I say today on behalf of the NHS, I am sorry.

"I am sorry, not just for the failures or the heartless and undignified treatment, but also because your cries of concern went unheard for too long.

"And so the government will act. We will act by taking immediate steps, including to expand Martha's Rule to all maternity in neonatal settings, so that parents can demand a second opinion if they feel their concerns are being ignored."

Image source, Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Health Secretary James Murray told the Commons he met families taking part in the maternity review last week.

He said: "I felt numb after hearing the depth of their pain. I felt even more numb when I considered how many families not in the room went through such a trauma too, and the forgotten children who survived but lived with the consequences of failings in maternity care every day.

"I felt devastated that so many women and babies, as well as their fathers and other family members, had suffered injury, death and lasting trauma whilst under the care of the NHS.

"Now, having met the families and having seen the report, I feel appalled by the neglect, incompetence, racism, discrimination, contempt and harassment that so many suffered.

"I feel heartbroken to know that at so many times, when they tried to raise the alarm about their care, they were ignored, sneered at, disbelieved, blamed and lied to."

Meanwhile, Health Secretary James Murray has starting addressing the findings of Ockenden's review in the House of Commons.

He described the revelations as "chilling".

Murray said: "Donna Ockenden’s review is the largest ever into a maternity service in the history of the NHS.

"The nature and sheer scale of the failings it exposes are horrific. It uncovers dangerously and tragically deficient care at almost every turn."

Our political editor Pete Saull, who has been watching Murray's address, said several MPs were visibly moved as he delivered his statement.

Addressing the press conference, Jack added: "The time has come for there to be a statutory public inquiry across England.

"Every family affected deserves the truth and accountability."

We heard earlier that some senior leaders had refused to take part in Ockenden's review, leading the government to announce a raft of measures to boost accountability - including ensuring that NHS staff who refuse to engage in future reviews are compelled to do so, or face up to two years in prison.

Jack said: "The fact significant senior staff chose not to take part in this review is appalling - to them maternity safety does not matter, but their reputation does.

"Questions must be asked whether these people are fit to continue to work in the NHS."

Jack has told the press conference that families were "horrified" by what staff members at NUH shared with the review, and that they should be "properly supported" in their jobs.

Jack said the actions for learning identified in Ockenden's review "must be treated with the utmost seriousness".

He added: "Anything less would be a betrayal of the families."