Independent Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services in England – Interim Report (26 February 2026)

Summary

On the 23 June 2025 the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a rapid, national, independent investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services. This interim report reflects what families, staff and others have told the investigation team and what the latter has seen themselves. Women and families across England are still being asked to share their experiences of maternity and neonatal care through a public call for evidence which is open until the 17 March 2026.

Content

In the report’s foreword, Baroness Amos notes that the experiences described by women and people who have been pregnant, families and non-birthing partners in their December report have remained as consistent themes during our meetings across the country. She states that the investigation team have heard about families being disregarded and not listened to during pregnancy and labour, a lack of kindness and compassion, and reluctance on the part of trusts and professionals to admit mistakes and say sorry when things have gone wrong.

This report seeks to set out the background and changing context in which maternity and neonatal care is provided. It also examines six factors that could be contributing to pressures on the maternity and neonatal system:

• Capacity pressures – the investigation have heard about capacity pressures at every stage of the maternity journey. They have also identified inconsistencies between individual units and in the birth choices available to women, sometimes as a result of these capacity pressures.
• Culture and leadership – the investigation have heard from many families of striking shortcomings relating to organisational culture, and they heard from staff of the challenges they face in sustaining and improving a compassionate culture.
• Racism and discrimination – throughout their investigation, they have heard about unacceptable racism and discrimination across the maternity and neonatal system.
• Poor responses and lack of accountability when things go wrong – families have described a lack of compassion in the aftermath of incidents that had resulted in harm, including birth trauma and baby loss. The investigation have repeatedly heard from women and families about a lack of transparency, clear communication and learning when things went wrong.
• The quality of estates - from their visits to the 12 NHS trusts, the investigation has seen maternity and neonatal services that are delivered in estates that are outdated and dilapidated, and estates which are new and modern. However, the report notes that a modern estate does not always equate to a high-quality service, for example, they have also seen examples of recently built estates which were misaligned with clinical and patient need. 
• Workforce – the report notes that even in NHS trusts that have achieved full staffing according to Birthrate Plus, staff report that maternity units do not consistently feel safely staffed in practice, due to factors such as high turnover of staff and because the numbers include midwives who do not provide frontline care. They state that some women and families recognised that staff are often working beyond capacity and that staffing levels impact on the quality of care provided.