What the Ockenden report on Nottingham Maternity Care means for you
What happened
On 24 June 2026, a major independent review into maternity and neonatal care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) was published. It's called the Ockenden Report, named after its chair, Donna Ockenden, who also led the earlier review into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
The Review looked at care between 2012 and 2025, examining nearly 2,500 families' experiences — making it, in the words of the report itself, “the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history.” It was commissioned in June 2022 and closed to new families on 31 May 2025.
Why this matters if you're pregnant or planning a family — anywhere in the UK, not just Nottingham.
This report isn't only about one Trust. It sets out 8 categories of Immediate and Essential Actions (IEAs) intended for maternity services right across England:
Listening to Women & Families
Workforce Planning & Safe Staffing
Training & Multi-Professional Learning
Risk Assessment Throughout Pregnancy
Incident Investigation & Family Involvement
Governance & Board Accountability
Culture, Teamwork & Psychological Safety
Mothers Who Have Died and Post Death Care
At the centre of all of these is one principle, stated directly in the report: where a woman, her family, or staff have ongoing concerns about her or her baby, they must be able to seek an urgent additional clinical review through clear, accessible routes, under the principles of Martha's Rule — in hospital and in the community.
What the review actually found
The numbers are significant, of 2,026 maternity cases reviewed, 444 (21% on average) were graded 2–3, meaning reviewers identified care that may have had a material effect on the outcome. Of 937 neonatal cases reviewed, 76 (6% on average) were graded the same way.
The Review also examined 27 maternal deaths between 2006 and 2024. Of the 22 that fell within its remit, reviewers identified failures in care that may have impacted the outcome in six of them.
Recurring themes that families described included:
Inconsistent communication
Not feeling listened to or believed
Being excluded from decision-making
Understaffing
Delays in escalating concerns
The report notes these issues “span more than a decade, suggesting that challenges were deeply embedded and not limited to individual staff members, isolated events, or short-term operational pressures.”
It's also worth saying clearly: the report does not describe universally poor care. It specifically highlights areas of good and even exceptional practice — for example, 91% of obstetric anaesthetic cases reviewed were graded 0 or 1 (no or only minor concerns), and neonatal care was found to be “in line with national expectations, with many clear examples of good and exceptional practice.” The report's own framing is that positive, skilled individual care existed alongside serious structural and cultural failings — and that the gap between the two is exactly why leadership, governance and culture matter so much.
Remember, you are allowed to ask for a second opinion. You are allowed to ask someone more senior to review your care, or your baby's, if you're worried — in hospital or in the community. That's not 'being difficult.' It’s important that you listen to your body, your baby, and your instincts.
If you'd like support building confidence and language for advocating for yourself in pregnancy and birth, that's exactly the kind of work we can do together — through doula support, hypnobirthing and antenatal preparation.
[Read the full report here]
