An open letter to the Health Secretary & Maternity Adviser

Saturday 31 October 2026

Dear Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Michelle Welsh MP, Maternity Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care,

We are Families Failed by OUH Maternity Services (FFOUH), a families-led group of more than 800 families harmed by maternity care at Oxford University Hospitals.

For over two years we have been documenting what happened to us, and for many of us the fight began long before that. Despite repeatedly contacting three health secretaries within this timeframe, we are still no closer to answers, accountability or change.

We are writing to publicly ask you to urgently commission a full, independent investigation into OUH maternity and neonatal services, and to ask that it be chaired by someone with the independence and standing of Dr Bill Kirkup.

Why the NMNI failed Oxfordshire families:

In November 2025 we sent the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation (NMNI) our report, Systemic Failings Told Through Family Voices, drawing on the testimony of more than 700 families.

According to letters from Dr Kirkup, who resigned from the NMNI before its report was published, our evidence-based publication does not appear to have been seen by the NMNI’s expert advisers, including those who visited Oxford.

We are also aware that most, if not all, of the analysis of family testimonials and evidence submissions for the NMNI was done by an AI system. Oxfordshire families attending evidence gathering sessions did not consent to transcripts of their accounts being analysed by AI.

An FOI response from DHSC made it clear to us that the data analysed by AI was held by NHS England; the organisation at which the CEO of OUH was seconded to as Deputy CEO for the duration of the NMNI. This is deeply concerning for families and their sensitive health data.

Additionally, this AI system relied on descriptive, thematic analysis which appears to have resulted in a failure to capture the complexity of families’ accounts and the recurring patterns of harm they described. The summaries do not adequately reflect concerns repeatedly raised by Oxfordshire families, including the influence of normal birth ideology and the conduct of key staff members.

This means that the harm in Oxford has never been properly analysed. Lessons cannot have been adequately captured, and women and babies in Oxfordshire remain at risk. We therefore ask that the methodology, human oversight and treatment of family evidence be examined as part of an independent investigation.

Oxford is being treated differently, and no one has said why:

An independent investigation was ordered at Leeds University Hospitals after a report of at least 56 potentially preventable baby deaths. A review was commissioned for University Hospitals Sussex after at least 55 potentially preventable baby deaths were identified.

In March 2026, the BBC reported 58 potentially avoidable baby deaths at OUH between 2019 and 2024 yet OUH has received no independent scrutiny.

The NMNI’s own report on OUH found that overnight medical cover at the John Radcliffe Hospital was “not an appropriate staffing model for a unit of this size”, and it did not accept the executive team’s explanation for staff distress, finding that leaders had “limited insight” into its operational causes.

It recorded a dominant culture that a clinical staff member called the “Oxford way”. They said: “It is the best. Woe betide you if you challenge it.”

Families told the NMNI team that the hospital put doing things the “Oxford Way” ahead of their care preferences. The NMNI concluded there was “evidence of a willingness to ignore national guidelines based on evidence in favour of what Oxford clinicians think is the better way”, and a senior leader described resistance to maternal request caesareans in 2019 as “a resistance to letting go of professional power”.

The NMNI team remains concerned that families who have recently given birth at OUH “are still being dismissed, and staff are not listening to them”. Families raised similar themes with the investigation team in family meetings and these patterns of harm are set out in the report we prepared for the NMNI team.

Subsequently, the CQC rated the John Radcliffe Hospital’s maternity services “Good” overall despite finding seven breaches in regulations relating to safe care and treatment, environment, infection prevention, staffing and good governance.

Why scrutiny must be independent:

Independent scrutiny is vital in Oxford.

OUH's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) was recently seconded to Deputy CEO of NHS England, and the Trust's Chair has taken a regional chair role there. An investigation commissioned or influenced by OUH, or by bodies so closely tied to it, would not gain families' trust and would not be credible.

The NHS England review of the Oxford Growth Restriction Identification Programme (OxGRIP), which the NMNI found 'departed from NICE guidance', has still not been published and, as far as we know, has not engaged with a single family harmed by the programme.

An independent investigation into OUH’s Maternity Services of this kind needs a chair and a process with no connection to either body. A further review commissioned through the same structures as the NMNI would not have the support of families who believe their evidence has not been adequately considered.

Independence must also mean looking at the interests around OUH.

In response to a public FOI request, OUH stated that it takes equity in companies it supports in its NHS accelerator programme, and an agreement committing equity in a maternity technology company was signed on 16 May 2025. OUH withheld the size of its stake in this company and any information on conflict of interest declarations, commercial agreements and governance approvals, citing commercial interests.

At the end of June 2025, within weeks of the NMNI being announced, before any hospitals had been selected to be investigated, the then Health Secretary received a letter from the company OUH invested in the month before.

The letter, obtained by our campaign group through the Department of Health and Social Care, under the Freedom of Information Act, stated:

“But if you follow the path of Health Ministers before you — shaping investigations around the loudest campaign groups with PR strategies, legal teams on standby, and a focus on improving their own local services — you won't be protecting the most vulnerable families across the country. You'll be shielding yourself from pressure, while rewarding the savviest media campaigns. These groups are counting on you to repeat the same old playbook. When you announced this investigation, no hospitals had yet been selected. Since then, I've watched campaigners from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust push — some aggressively — for their trust to be included. If those become your final list, it sends a clear message to us all: that hospitals weren’t chosen based on where mothers and babies are most at risk, but based on who shouted the loudest. I urge you to keep your promise to listen to those who aren't being heard.”

Parts of the letter were redacted when the DHSC released it to us, so we cannot tell whether potential interests were declared.

We believe transparency about relevant commercial relationships and potential conflicts of interest is important to maintaining public confidence in maternity investigations.

We therefore ask that an independent investigation establish whether any relevant interests or relationships required disclosure, whether appropriate declarations were made, and whether safeguards were in place to protect the independence of decision-making.

What our families report:

Behind the statistics are families with experiences we should not recognise in a modern NHS.

Families in our group report a baby taken to the mortuary while still alive; information about a baby’s death not reaching the coroner; and a baby’s remains returned incorrectly after a post-mortem.

Mothers report being sent for psychiatric assessment for simply requesting a caesarean, and being refused pain relief they begged for.

Most describe the same pattern afterwards: complaints met with defensiveness, no changes to practice, and families left to prove they were telling the truth.

Not only is there an entrenched culture of defensiveness, our families have experienced unimaginable cruelty that you would never expect from healthcare professionals.

Examples of cruelty:

“Do you want me to just take it away when it’s born, because most people don’t want to look at it?” Said to a father by a bereavement midwife referring to his daughter while his partner was in labour.

“Just hold your baby and let her die.” Said to a mother whose daughter later died.

“Maybe having a 2 year old that died would be worse than a baby.” Said to a mother after the death of her premature baby.

“Her poor son is in the high dependency unit because she was too lazy to push.” Said by one midwife to another, about a mother who had an emergency caesarean birth.

“I may piss you off and you may need to tell me to fuck off.” Said by a consultant obstetrician to an expectant mother at her first appointment.

The solicitors who act for harmed families see this from the inside and specialist firms including CL Medilaw, Leigh Day and RWK Goodman have publicly backed our calls for an independent investigation. They describe families whose lives have been devastated by what we deem to be cruel, neglectful and negligent maternity care at OUH. You can read a statement of support from CL Medilaw below.

In the NMNI report into OUH, a staff member bravely reported evidence of misogyny and racism among maternity staff, a trend we see among our families’ experiences, which also show bias against young mothers and families from working class backgrounds.

What families have told us:

Families have told us they are afraid to speak up.

Campaign co-founder Rebecca, obtained a 201-page audit log through a Subject Access Request, showing OUH staff with no apparent clinical involvement repeatedly accessing her medical records, including around campaign and media milestones. OUH’s Interim CEO has confirmed an investigation and the matter has been reported by Rebecca to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and Thames Valley Police.

The campaign group has also faced the following by Trust staff and associates:

What appears to be infiltration of our private group for harmed families by an OUH associate;

Covert recording of our private support group for harmed families by an OUH associate and the reporting of a harmed mother to the police for a comment made at the support group. This was reported in the New Statesman and Channel 4 News investigation into maternity failings at OUH. The findings were called ‘scandalous’ by the Health Secretary at the time, and called the covert recording a ‘sickening betrayal of trust’;
Legal letters were sent by a senior OUH maternity consultant and OUH associate. Subsequently, co-founder Rebecca was invited to speak at a parliamentary roundtable in March 2026 due to her experience as a victim of SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) and her experience featured in a backbench debate about Anti-SLAPP legislation in September 2026;

Campaign members’ medical records, FOIs and Subject Access Requests being withheld, and FOIs regarding the campaign group being withheld by the Trust;

A complaint made by campaign co-founder Rebecca raising safeguarding concerns, marked “Private and Confidential”, was shared by a senior Trust leader with the ICB without the complainant’s consent. The ICB’s Caldicott Guardian then disclosed the complaint in full, including identifying details, to the person it concerned. The private complaint was subsequently cited in a legal letter sent to the complainant.

All of these actions were preventable and have caused significant distress to already traumatised families.

If speaking up about harm leads to your own medical records being examined and, what feels like, retaliatory behaviour, families will stay silent and the NHS will never listen to those it so desperately needs to hear to ensure change happens.

Families have waited long enough:

Many of us have campaigned for years.

We have written to regulators, MPs and ministers. We have given evidence, reliving the worst days of our lives, only to find out that our report, which we painstakingly put together for thr NMNI team, was not read.

South Oxfordshire MP Freddie van Mierlo wrote to Secretary of State James Murray MP on 8th July 2026 asking whether an independent investigation would be commissioned in OUH maternity and neonatal services – he is yet to receive a reply.

We refuse to accept that babies, mothers and families in Oxfordshire matter less than those in Leeds or Sussex.

We ask you to:

Urgently commission a full, independent, Trust-specific investigation into OUH maternity and neonatal services, with terms of reference agreed with families.

Appoint a chair of the independence and standing of Dr Kirkup.

Establish what happened to the evidence submitted by FFOUH and Oxfordshire families to the NMNI, including our report and family testimonies on our website; determine whether and how that evidence informed the investigation’s findings; and publish an explanation of any material that was not considered or reflected in its analysis.

Confirm a date for the meeting you have agreed to have with us to hear our experiences and answer our questions in person.

Every family who gives birth at OUH in the future deserves to know their baby will be safe. They deserve to know that someone independent has examined the failures that have led to widespread, life-changing harm, and that the Trust has changed.

And we – families who have been harmed – deserve answers and accountability for what happened to us and our children.

One mother told us that we should be aiming for a higher standard than "you've survived."

Safe care should not be determined by luck.

Oxfordshire families are asking for a maternity service that meets the highest standard of safety – and we are asking you to make that a reality by commissioning an independent investigation that leads to changes that are desperately needed to ensure OUH delivers safe, compassionate and dignified care.

We would be grateful for a response by Monday 30 November 2026.

Yours sincerely,

Families Failed by OUH Maternity Services campaign members on behalf of over 800 harmed families:

Rebecca Matthews, Dr Kim Thomas, Laura Ayaode, Chloe*, Claire*, Charlotte Matthews, Lisa Wellstood, Emma Lee-Welham, Amelia-Jayne Pill, Anna-Marie Fisher, Kellie Copley, Angel-Kay & Marley Mason, Emma Cox, Alex Shayler, Tia Ouma, Elizabeth Rice, Hazel Bartrip, April Gill, Jiab Kingston, Julia Trinder, Fatuma Saidi, Stephanie Nelson, Hannah Montague-Fuller, Rachel Hope, Gothami Hettiarachchi, Joanna Jesionkowska, Samira & Steve Davies, Meg Kaveney, Colleen May, Marcia Blackman, Katie Buckingham, Hannah Steadman, Patricia Gardner, Leanne Lumsdale, Chantelle Laithwaite, Poppy Mason, Pat Matthews, Eleanor Taylor, Richard Palmer, Nicola Swann, Joanne Groves, Louise Soames, Stacey Blackwell, Saima Ahmed, Andrea Broccatelli, Holly Jones, Tanya Addis, Annika Weldon, Adriana Romero, Stephanie Brar, Jess Blakemore, Bethan Lee-Francis, Lucy Morgan, Coral Talbot, Emma Carnaby, Ashleigh Houlton-Moss, Patti Devitt, Christina Pullen, Sara Wilkinson, Camellia Daniel, Cathy Plimmer Newitt, Victoria Smith, Roberta King, Tiffiny Curbishley, Cerys Smith, Heather Copete, Kiera O'Mahoney, Charlotte Parsons, Simon Wren, Skye Mills, Sam Roper.

(*names changed to protect identities)

Statement of support from CL Medilaw

Having represented families in Oxfordshire pursuing maternity claims against OUH for more than two decades, we have seen repeated themes: mothers not being listened to; mothers being made to feel belittled, undermined or a nuisance; and serious concerns being dismissed when they should have prompted urgent action.

We see cases in which mothers report reduced fetal movements yet are told this is insignificant and cases in which mothers are allowed to go significantly beyond term despite raising concerns about their baby’s wellbeing.

We see instances of clinicians failing to properly advise and consult with mothers about their options for both the mode and timing of delivery, even when complications arise.

This is resulting in perfectly healthy babies born with avoidable brain injuries, babies’ lives being lost and women suffering life-altering pelvic injuries or PTSD due to birth trauma that needn’t have happened had basic levels of care been provided.

Whilst we act for families against many of NHS maternity units nationwide, there appears to be a distinct culture of defensiveness at OUH in the way it responds when things go wrong.

We see significant delays during the litigation process and a failure to acknowledge wrongdoing until the latest possible moment, prolonging the process and re-traumatising families who are already facing extremely difficult circumstances.

It is clear from the Trust’s response to the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation conducted by Baroness Amos that there remains a serious lack of accountability at senior leadership level for the harm caused and for the experiences endured by these families.

Laura Cook and Jenny Clendining, Partners and Birth Injury Specialists, CL Medilaw, Oxford.

Statement of support from James Titcombe OBE, Patient Safety Campaigner

I strongly support the call for a full, independent investigation into maternity and neonatal services at Oxford University Hospitals.

The accounts of harm from more than 800 families, alongside serious concerns about clinical practice, organisational culture and leadership, demand proper independent scrutiny.

There cannot be one standard of accountability for families in Leeds, Sussex or Morecambe Bay, and another for families in Oxford.

The Government must act. Families deserve answers, accountability and meaningful change, and women and babies deserve the assurance that their safety comes first.