Government maternity review condemned for reliance on AI

A national review’s poor use of AI to analyse evidence contributed to the downplaying of a key factor in the deaths of mothers and babies, according to one of its leading members.

Bill Kirkup has told the House of Commons Health and Social Care Select Committee that the national review of maternity and neonatal services led by Baroness Amos heard “repeated” evidence of “normal birth ideology” contributing to harm, including fatalities. Despite this, the review concluded it was not “widespread” 

Normal birth ideology prioritises spontaneous vaginal birth with minimal medical intervention as the ideal outcome, sometimes at the expense of clinical risk assessment. Dr Kirkup has previously warned that its misuse should not be “airbrushed away”.

Dr Kirkup quit Baroness Amos’ national maternity and neonatal investigation eight days before its final report was published in June in a dispute over its conclusions on normal birth ideology, as revealed at the time by HSJ.

He has now outlined serious concerns about the review in letters to ministers and MPs seen by HSJ, including about flawed use of an AI process to search evidence.

In his letter to the Commons’ health and social care committee, Dr Kirkup said he was writing to confirm on record that the investigation heard and saw evidence that was “strongly suggestive of ‘normal birth ideology’”. He said seven members of the investigation, including him, confirmed that observation, and that this related to at least two of the sites reviewed by the probe, possibly more.

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Source: HSJ, 17 October 2026