Labour promises to fix maternity services after damning report

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The government has promised to overhaul maternity and neonatal services in England after a landmark review detailed systematic failings. It was overseen by Labour peer Baroness Amos, who visited 12 NHS trusts and spoke with 450 families. Another 10,500 respondents submitted written evidence. Baroness Amos concluded the system is “fragmented, overly complex and too slow to learn and improve”, which has resulted in “avoidable deaths and harm to women”. She also documented “embedded” racism from staff. Her recommendations for fixing the system include creating a new statutory commissioner for the sector, something the government has agreed to do. Baroness Amos’s findings come after a report into Nottingham’s NHS trust said that hundreds of babies and mothers had died or were harmed due to poor treatment between 2012 and 2025. They were both published a full decade after the 2016 National Maternity Review outlined an “ambitious vision” to reshape maternity services across England.