Health secretary seeks legal advice on compelling evidence from maternity inquiry staff

The health secretary said he is seeking advice on whether senior clinicians who declined to give evidence to the Ockenden Review can be required to do so under a proposed new law. James Murray said it was totally unacceptable that some senior staff refused to take part in the inquiry into maternity services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

He spoke on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Murray said that as part of the Hillsborough Law, a duty of candour would be applied to future maternity investigations and that he was seeking advice as to whether the law could be applied retrospectively.

Background of the review The maternity review into the trust, published in June, was the largest of its kind in NHS history. Led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, the inquiry found there were potentially avoidable outcomes for mothers and babies in 520 cases and deeply embedded systemic failures at maternity units in Nottingham.

About 2,500 families and more than 800 members of trust staff, past and present, contributed to the review, which began in 2022. When presenting the findings in Nottingham in June, Ockenden said there were gaps in knowledge because some senior managers had declined to take part.

The report said 66 former and current senior colleagues were approached by the chief executive of the trust, of which 37 came forward and 35 were interviewed. The chief executive told the BBC that the senior executives currently working for the trust had engaged with the review.

Calls for further accountability Former health secretary Wes Streeting wants anyone who refused to give evidence to appear before MPs on the health and social care select committee. Murray said it was a decision for the chair of the committee to make, but added that if the select committee invited them, they should say yes.