The Health Secretary has agreed that Donna Ockenden will lead an independent inquiry into birth failures in Sussex. It comes after lobbying by the victims’ families and a joint investigation by New statesman and BBC News. In February, we discovered that the deaths of at least 55 infants could have been avoided if they and their mothers had received better care from the University Hospitals of Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
Streeting met the families this afternoon (April 15) at Brighton’s Leonardo Hotel, where he agreed the scope of the inquest and confirmed the former midwife would lead it. Talking to New statesman afterwards, he said Ockenden’s “superpower has built trust and confidence among bereaved and damaged families who have frankly lost all faith and trust in the state and the NHS as a result of the harm they have been through”. The group Truth for Our Babies (TFOB), which represents 21 families whose babies died in Sussex between 2020 and 2025, said today marked a “significant and welcome step forward” in what has been “a long, grueling and deeply emotional battle”.
The group said they “have been calling for this review for two years, living with the devastating loss and damage caused to us and our babies… We are grateful that Wes Streeting has listened to campaigning families and recognized the need to nominate Donna Ockenden”. Ockenden led the maternity inquiry in Shrewsbury and Telford, and her four-year inquiry into care in Nottingham will be published in June. Involving more than 2,400 families, it is the largest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS. Sussex families have long been clear in their desire for Ockenden to lead any review into their care, but her appointment was initially rejected by the Department of Health and Social Care. Instead, she put up three other names for families to consider, leading to an impasse.
It is the second time in the space of a month that the DHSC has overturned decisions that excluded Ockenden from leading local maternity inquiries. In March, after intense lobbying by families in Leeds, Streeting agreed for the former midwife to chair one inquiry into harm caused by maternity services run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. “Honestly, my anxiety about Donna has always been whether – given the work I’ve asked her to do in Leeds and the work she’s finishing in Nottingham – she’d have the capacity to do the Sussex review,” Streeting explained. However, he was reassured that it was possible to balance the workload “in a way that will continue to maintain the confidence of the (Sussex) families”. Ockenden said it was an “honour” to be asked to chair the review. “I am absolutely conscious of the responsibility I have to families and babies across Sussex.”
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A group of nine Sussex families were the first promised an independent review of their cases from Streeting in June 2025 – ten months ago. By February, the families told him New statesman and the BBC had made no progress. In the intervening eight months, the group had grown to 15 families, all of whom died under the care of University Hospitals Sussex. After our investigation, more families came out: the group is now 21. But, they argue, this likely represents a fraction of those who were harmed.
Responses to freedom of information requests made by TFOB show that the deaths of at least 55 babies in Sussex hospitals between 2019 and 2023 could have been avoided. Whenever a child dies after 22 weeks (including miscarriage and stillbirth), hospitals are required to conduct an internal investigation. Between 2019 and 2023, Sussex University Hospitals carried out 227 such reviews – known as Perinatal Mortality Review Tools (PMRTs). At least 55 cases were given grades C or D by the trust, indicating that different care either “may” have or “likely” made a difference to the outcome for these babies.
The trust points to recent improvements in these figures, saying in 2024 three infant deaths were identified in which changes in mothers’ care could have, or were likely to have, made a difference. With these figures included, combined with other cases they have identified, the TFOB group told the Health Secretary that they believe at least 62 infant deaths could have been avoidable in the faith between 2019 and 2025. These figures may be conservative. The group points out that in their experience, in at least half of the cases where external investigations or legal action indicated there had been failings of care, the internal review had said there had been none.
While we now know Ockenden will lead the Sussex review, its scope and timeframe are not being made public. Intergovernmental approval is required and announcements relating to local areas are not permitted in the run-up to the English council elections in May. It is understood, however, that the investigation will involve a significantly larger number of families than originally planned or requested. Other investigations led by Donna Ockenden – both in Nottingham and the Leeds inquiry announced only last month – have is operated on the basis of “opt-outThis means that cases that occurred during the period being investigated are automatically included, unless families choose otherwise.
The Sussexes have campaigned for something similar, there is no clear reason why their inquiry should be treated any differently. Speaking this evening, Ockenden said she and her team “will be proactively reaching out to ensure that the voices of families who are rarely heard are heard through this review”. The Health Secretary said while he was unable to comment on specifics due to electoral rules and the final terms of reference being worked out, “this is very much an Ockenden-style inquiry”. It will include “both loss and harm and injury to mothers and babies, as well as deaths,” Streeting confirmed.
This is something that the families have insisted on going to the meeting – for the injured families to be included in the competence of the investigation. Marija Pantelic was one of the first four mothers to come together to demand better maternity care in Sussex. Her son, Sasha, died in Brighton in January 2022. Just a few days ago, her worries that he was moving less than he had been dismissed. Sasha’s death was always going to be included: her family was one of the original nine that Streeting promised answers to. But, Pantelic argued, “as a mother and researcher of health disparities, I cannot accept a process that closes the door after a few louder voices.” As a public health academic who has spent 15 years studying health inequalities, Marija Pantelic wrote in the BMJ: “A comprehensive, inclusive review—one that includes every injured and bereaved family and that actively reaches out to marginalized groups—is essential to understanding and preventing avoidable harm.”
Without a comprehensive “opt-out” approach, Sussex families fear “opportunities to prevent future harm could be lost”. Important stories would be lost, left unheard without lessons learned. Stories like those of 32-year-old Hayley Taggart, who was among those who met the Health Secretary earlier today.
Taggart was left with life-changing injuries after giving birth to her daughter at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in February 2022. It was a high-risk pregnancy, resulting in a planned caesarean section at 29 weeks. After the birth, Taggart repeatedly told staff that she was in a lot of pain; that her body was swollen.
As a midwife working for the faith at the time (and having given birth twice before), she knew things were not right. She was worried she had an infection. But the doctors ignored it, she told him New statesman. At one point, they scolded him for being overweight. Another laughed at him.
Taggart visited the hospital five times in the six weeks after her discharge, feeling ill. She had a high fever, swelling, and her C-section wound was oozing. “I knew something was wrong, but they didn’t listen to me,” Taggart said. She was given several courses of antibiotics. “I trusted the people I worked with with my life and well-being, yet I was left in constant pain, repeatedly sent home and made to feel like I was overreacting.”
“Just before the six-week mark, I ended up passing my placenta on the floor at home,” Taggart described. She went straight to A&E. Despite numerous previous hospital visits, no one had recognized that Taggart had a retained placenta, following a botched delivery. After giving birth to a baby, the mother must also “give birth” to the placenta that kept the baby alive in the womb. It wasn’t until Taggart sought emergency care that doctors discovered a significant portion of the placenta had been retained. She required surgery to remove it.
Despite the surgery, Taggart continued to suffer constant pelvic pain and bleeding for months. While it was suggested that she might have further exploratory surgery, in August 2023, Taggart underwent a total hysterectomy. “I wasn’t able to take care of my children properly because I was in constant pain,” she explained. “I just went straight to the hysterectomy.”
Today, four years after giving birth, Taggart is still on morphine every day and receiving treatment for psychological trauma. She has not been able to return to her role as a midwife at the Trust since the incident.
While unable to discuss details of individual cases, when New statesman approached Sussex University Hospitals for several maternity cases, the Trust said it offered a sincere apology to the women and families who had shared their experiences of loss and poor care. Sussex CEO Andy Heeps said the trust had employed 40 midwives as of 2022, but admitted “there will always be more we can do to improve”. Efforts were to be made to ensure Taggart met senior maternity staff as communications between her and the trust had broken down.
The final terms of reference and scope of the Sussex inquiry will not now be confirmed until after the May election. But for the first time in years, this group of damaged families now has hope that they will finally get the answers they’ve been looking for, not just for themselves, but for every family that’s been affected. “It’s about responsibility, but it’s also about working to make sure no other family has to endure what we went through,” TFOB said.
Streeting said he leaves Brighton today “confident” that the government and families had reached “consensus” that a process is now in place that would retain their trust and confidence. “Given what they’ve been through, that was one of the most important factors for me.”
(Further reading: Streeting’s maternity taskforce will begin work next week)
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