Trusts scramble to improve reviews of babies’ deaths

Trusts have been scrambling to make reviews of babies’ deaths more “fair and transparent”, after a new national requirement for independent input.

Maternity providers are required to review all perinatal deaths, and it has long been a national recommendation that they should involve at least one external, independent reviewer.

However, in April 2024, it became a formal requirement from NHS Resolution to have an external reviewer in at least half of the cases.

Figures obtained by HSJ show that at least 19 trusts did not meet this benchmark overall in 2024.

NHSR, which runs the NHS clinical negligence indemnity scheme, said the requirement “ensures that reviews are conducted with fairness and transparency built on open, honest conversations and free from any internal bias”.

One trust did not use external reviewers at all to look at late miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal deaths, while others only used them for a small fraction of cases. The external reviewer is required to be a relevant senior clinician who is not part of any trust involved in the case.

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Source: HSJ, 26 January 2026