Why we said no to OUH's 'Involvement & Engagement Plan'

Back in June, we asked Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) senior leadership for a Duty of Candour meeting – this is when healthcare providers have to be transparent and truthful about what has caused the harm experienced.

 

We asked our families what questions and issues they wanted us to raise at the meeting. We all wanted honesty – what went wrong, who was responsible, and how change would be made to stop others being harmed. OUH agreed, and a meeting date was set for September.

 

But just one week before the meeting, things changed.

 

OUH sent us a completely different agenda and introduced a 32-page “Involvement and Engagement Plan” – written without any input from us, announced publicly before we’d even seen it, and presented as if we had agreed to it.

 

We said no.

 

We cancelled the meeting because it was not what we requested or agreed to. We have told OUH we are still ready to meet, but it must be a Duty of Candour meeting – as previously agreed – not a PR exercise dressed up as “engagement.”

 

Not only did OUH publish this engagement plan without our agreement, they also included Keep the Horton General in the plan – a campaign group calling for obstetric services to be brought back to the Horton hospital in Banbury – without even speaking to their campaign leaders about it. They only found out about it through us.

 

OUH only engaged with our campaign in June 2025 when we contacted them, but we are aware that the Trust had been following the campaign since it started in June 2024 yet they have never proactively engaged with us.

 

It is disheartening that it’s taken national media coverage of the campaign and external pressure for OUH to engage. It should not be the responsibility of families who have been harmed in its care to initiate conversations – we’ve been put through enough without having to fight to be heard and taken seriously. It’s exhausting.

 

We believe OUH’s “Involvement and Engagement Plan” is a tokenistic attempt to quiet families rather than address what went wrong – and we won’t accept that.

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What concerned us about OUH’s plan

 

They announced it before telling us: The plan was discussed in public at the Trust Board meeting on 10 September – yet we only found out it existed on 11 September.

 

They’ve replaced accountability with PR: The plan talks about “accountability” as sending newsletters and measuring their own engagement targets. There’s no mention of real accountability – such as staff being disciplined, systemic failures being fixed, or steps to prevent future harm.

 

OUH controls the whole process: Every part of the plan – from who is involved to how feedback is handled – is led and controlled by OUH.

 

Protecting staff, not patients: Much of the plan focuses on staff wellbeing and training – but not on how staff who caused harm will be held accountable or how families will be protected.

 

False claims about engagement: On more than one occasion, OUH has claimed they initiated this contact with our campaign. That’s simply not true. It was our campaign that asked for a Duty of Candour meeting in June 2025 – the only reason any engagement began at all. 

 

What’s missing from OUH’s plan

 

The truth and any real commitment to accountability or justice. We asked for transparency and honesty; what we got instead looks like a reputation management exercise.

 

What we’re asking for

 

From OUH:

 

• Full Duty of Candour compliance: individual meetings with every family, full disclosure, real answers.

 

• Named accountability: who was involved, and what action has been taken at clinical and executive level.

 

• Immediate interim safety measures: protections in place for women, babies and families now.

 

• Genuine independence: families must approve facilitators, hold the majority on oversight panels, and see raw data.

 

Beyond OUH:

 

• A fully independent investigation into OUH maternity services – not just a broad national review.

 

• A statutory public inquiry with powers to compel evidence and take testimony under oath. MPs need to help make this happen.

 

Our final note

 

With over 660 harmed families now part of this campaign, OUH can no longer ignore the scale and severity of the harm caused in its maternity services.

 

If OUH truly cares about its patients and is serious about improving safety and quality, it must start by listening to the families it has failed – and acting on what they are asking for.

 

We remain ready to engage, but only in a process that delivers truth, accountability and real change. We will not be drawn into any process designed to take pressure off the Trust instead of facing up to what has happened to our families.

 

OUH, let us know when you’re ready.