Bereaved families feel 'gaslit' over inquiry into maternity failings in Leeds

The letter, signed by MPs whose constituents have been harmed by unsafe maternity care at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, urges the Prime Minister to reverse the decision not to appoint Donna Ockenden as Chair of the inquiry.

Families who say they were failed by Leeds maternity services tell us they feel gas lit and that they've lost faith in the Department of Health and Social Care, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, to appropriately oversee the inquiry.

Since the Inquiry’s announcement on October 20th 2025, Leeds families said they have grown increasingly concerned that no suitable chair has been suggested and that the Department for Health are not honouring promises made to families about the format, scope and methodology of the inquiry.

Lauren Caulfield's daughter Grace died in the days before she was "avoidably" born at the Leeds General Infirmary in 2022.

Lauren said: "I guess it goes back, you know, we've been gaslit by a hospital for several years."

She also said: "We got to this point by fighting for our voices to be heard and we sat in a room with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting who's promised a certain conversation is going to take place.

"He'd assured us of the methodology of this inquiry, to our faces, he said all of the right things, but then a month later, we'll get an email with completely different information, and we're just constantly just being lied to."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Every family who has lost a baby deserves answers, and we are determined to ensure they get them. We are actively working with families in Leeds to appoint a chair and agree terms of reference for this vital review.

“No one should experience substandard maternity care, and this government will not rest until women, babies and families get the care they need, in Leeds and beyond.

“We’re taking urgent action to improve maternity services across the country - investing over £130 million to make units safer, rolling out programmes to reduce avoidable brain injury and piloting Martha's Rule in maternity services.”

Meanwhile, Donna Ockenden said: "I have made it clear on multiple occasions to the Secretary of State for Health, his officials and team, that I stand ready to Chair the review into Leeds maternity services and can begin work immediately if asked.

"The independent inquiry into Nottingham maternity services that I am chairing is now in its final stages, with the report due to be delivered in June. Over many years, my team and I have developed both the robust methodology and the deep expertise required to undertake reviews of this scale and complexity.

"The issues we encounter are consistent and systemic: workforce pressures, insufficient funding, gaps in training and education, and poor cultures within perinatal, maternity and neonatal services that must change to ensure safe, compassionate care.

"Every day, I speak to women, fathers and families who have experienced unacceptable failures in maternity care. I also listen carefully and speak to frontline professionals — midwives, obstetricians, neonatologists, obstetric anaesthetists and many others — who describe the pressures they are working under and the changes they know are needed."

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has previously apologised for the failings.

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