Maternity scandal review chair resigns after pressure from families

The newly appointed chair of a major review into poor maternity care in Nottingham has resigned following mounting pressure from families.

Julie Dent was appointed by the NHS just two weeks ago to lead a review into hundreds of cases of alleged poor care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

On 7 April, more than 100 families called for Ms Dent to decline the offer after they had previously urged NHS England to appoint Donna Ockenden, who chaired the Shrewsbury and Telford maternity inquiry.

In a letter to families on Wednesday, the chief operating officer of NHS England and NHS Improvement, David Sloman, said: “After careful consideration and further conversations with her family, Julie Dent has, for personal reasons, decided not to proceed as chair of the independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.”

The letter said that NHS England and NHS Improvement would still have “oversight” of the independent review, and that a new review process was being established.

Mr Sloman said he would write to families to inform them of the next stage in the review “shortly”.

The Nottingham independent maternity review was launched in July last year, and since then more than 500 families have come forward, the majority in the last two months.

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Source: The Independent, 4 May 2022