Families welcome appointment of Donna Ockenden to Leeds maternity inquiry

Campaigners say Wes Streeting’s decision to name senior midwife as chair will begin to restore trust

Families who lost babies at two hospitals in Leeds have said they are slowly regaining trust in the health secretary after the midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead a review into the failing service, where 56 babies and two mothers died in five years.

Ockenden, who conducted a similar review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust in 2020, was chosen to lead the investigation into Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust after a campaign by the families.

The group, which also includes women whose children survived but who suffered serious harm through failures in maternity care at the trust, met Wes Streeting last month to urge the health secretary to appoint Ockenden, five months after the independent review was announced.

The maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and St James’s hospital, both run by the same trust, were downgraded to “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission in June 2025.

Amarjit Kaur Matharoo, whose daughter Asees was stillborn at the LGI in 2024, said trust in Streeting was beginning to be restored, after initially feeling they were being sidelined due to delays in appointing a chair.

“I think we’re slowly getting it back,” she said. “He has to regain it, it’s not something that he can just give because we have been burnt ultimately. But it’s a step towards rebuilding that relationship and ensuring that actually patients and families are heard, and making sure that actually there’s a safer space for maternity in Leeds.”

Fiona Wisner-Ramm’s daughter Aliona also died at the LGI in 2020, after what a coroner described as “a number of gross failures of the most basic nature” by hospital staff.

She said: “We reminded Mr Streeting that victims are the people that should be paramount in any of this and that should always come before protecting organisations, protecting other individuals in power and I think he’s very much reflected on that and that has helped his decision-making.”

Ockenden said: “It is an honour to have been asked to chair this review, and I feel a profound sense of responsibility to the parents, babies and healthcare professionals it concerns to ensure that we get this right. This review must remain firmly focused on the families who, in many instances, have waited far too long for answers to questions about their care.

“My priority will be to listen carefully to families and staff, to understand what has gone wrong, and to ensure that the lessons are learned and the changes required are made, in a timely way, thus ensuring that all mothers, their babies and families receive safe, high-quality perinatal care.”

Streeting, who previously said Ockenden would not be leading the Leeds review owing to her existing commitments, said: “Donna Ockenden is an outstanding advocate for families whose voices haven’t always been heard, and I’m delighted to appoint someone so trusted by those who have been repeatedly let down by the NHS.

“To the families in Leeds, I want to say – thank you for your openness during our detailed discussions in recent weeks, and the courage you continue to show in sharing your experiences and advocating for lasting change, so other families do not experience the unimaginable tragedies you have gone through.

“This review must deliver for you and for the sake of all families who rightly expect to receive safe and high-quality maternity care in the NHS. Donna Ockenden’s leadership will bring us closer to the lasting change so desperately needed in Leeds.”