NHS maternity review criticised for sidelining families ‘enduring everlasting grief’

• Families who have lost babies due to NHS failings claim they are being sidelined by a rapid review into maternity services, with victims forced to “compress” their experiences into eight minutes.
• The Maternity Safety Alliance has renewed its call for a statutory inquiry, arguing the current rapid review is a “performative approach” that lacks depth and robustness.
• Emily Barley, co-founder of the Maternity Safety Alliance, whose daughter died in 2022, criticised the review's limited family involvement and the 500-word limit for submitting evidence, calling it an “insult.”
• The National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation (NMNI), commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting and led by Baroness Valerie Amos, is examining 12 NHS trusts with a report due in the spring.
• The NMNI spokesperson defended the rapid review, stating its aim is to develop national recommendations quickly to drive improvements, contrasting it with the longer timeline of a statutory public inquiry.

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Grieving families who lost babies due to NHS failings hit out at maternity investigation