Donna Ockenden's Nottingham Maternity Review Published: Widescale Failings Confirmed Across Two NHS Units

What the Review Covers

The Ockenden Review into Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust examined maternity services at two sites: Nottingham City Hospital and Queen's Medical Centre. It began in September 2022 and, according to BBC News, drew testimony from approximately 2,500 families and more than 800 staff members — making it the largest maternity review in NHS history. The review covers the period from April 2012 to May 2025.

The Criminal Investigation Running Alongside It

This review did not happen in isolation. Nottinghamshire Police launched a manslaughter case into the trust in June 2025, as part of its wider criminal investigation into maternity failings at the trust, named Operation Perth.

On Monday, police confirmed the first two arrests made as part of Operation Perth, which police said were separate to the corporate manslaughter investigation. Two men, aged 55 and 59, were detained on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, in connection with what BBC News described as "operating practices in the mortuary service" provided by the trust. Both were released on bail with strict conditions.

The General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council are separately investigating allegations against individual NUH staff members. The NMC said it was looking at 96 "fitness to practise" cases relating to maternity care at NUH. The GMC said it was looking at 62 cases, and GMC investigators were also reviewing more than 300 information reports passed to them from the Ockenden review.

The Money the Trust Has Already Paid

NUH has paid out millions in compensation. The most concrete figure on record: a £1.6 million fine — the largest ever levied against an NHS trust for maternity failings — for the deaths of three babies in 2021, according to BBC News. NUH was also fined £800,000 in January 2023 after admitting failures in the care of Wynter Andrews and her mother. Broader compensation payouts to affected families remain described only as "millions."

The Families Who Made This Happen

Sarah and Jack Hawkins were among the earliest families to push for external scrutiny. Their daughter Harriet was stillborn at City Hospital in April 2016. The initial internal review found "no obvious fault" and attributed her death to infection. The Hawkins family rejected that conclusion.

An external review published in January 2019 found widespread failings and concluded Harriet's death was "almost certainly preventable."

Jack Hawkins, 57, a hospital consultant at the time of Harriet's death, told BBC News: "How on earth have we allowed it that there are 1,000 avoidable baby deaths in this country every year and, in a particular place, there are this many schools' worth of children missing or damaged beyond belief, and dead mums and damaged mums?"

Sarah Hawkins, 43, a senior physiotherapist at the trust at the time, noted the particular weight of having worked for the very institution that failed their daughter: "It's massive, because we worked there as well. We couldn't go back to our careers, our jobs, everything. Every single aspect of life was changed."

The couple had their legal case against the trust settled out of court for £2.8 million, believed to be the largest payout for a stillbirth clinical negligence case.

Gary and Sarah Andrews lost their daughter Wynter, who died in 2019 just 23 minutes after being born. Gary, 38, said: "The report being published today needs to serve as a wake-up call to the NHS locally and nationally, that what's gone on before cannot be allowed to continue."

Sherwood Forest MP Michelle Welsh, who suffered a birth trauma at the trust and is now a government maternity adviser, called it "an absolute watershed moment," citing accounts of women "not being listened to, being treated with disdain, being told to stay at home, and discrimination."

What the BBC Source Does Not Fully Address

BBC News's reporting focuses heavily on family testimony and the criminal investigation. It does not detail what specific systemic reforms the Ockenden Review actually recommends. The Independent source retrieved for this story was not functional — the full article text was replaced by unrelated celebrity content, making its reporting on the review's specific recommendations unverifiable from that source. Readers seeking the actual policy recommendations should go directly to the published Ockenden Report.

What Happens Next

The UK government will face immediate pressure to respond formally to the review's recommendations. Parliament typically requires a ministerial statement on major NHS inquiry publications, and NHS England will be expected to produce an implementation plan. Whether that plan includes binding timelines or becomes another shelf document is the question families like the Hawkins are watching. The corporate manslaughter strand of Operation Perth continues, with no further details on timeline provided in available sources.