Maternity inquiry welcomed by grieving mother

Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton lost their baby, Kate, after poor maternity care

A mother instrumental in uncovering poor maternity care has welcomed a new review into 14 health trusts, including the one which treated her.

Rhiannon Davies' daughter Kate died after a series of failings by the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals Trust (SaTH) in 2009. This event led to a review by senior midwife Donna Ockenden who found babies' deaths were often not investigated and grieving parents were not listened to.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has named SaTH among the trusts which would be examined as part of a national rapid review.

Ms Davies said the inquiry was a "significant step in the right direction", but the leader of the review, Baroness Amos, had "so much work to do".

The review was due to be completed by December, but will now not report until Spring 2026. Baroness Amos has said she will aim to produce interim findings around Christmas.

Ms Davies, who lives in Hereford, told BBC Midlands Today the delay was inevitable, given the need to ensure families were happy with the choice of chair and those advising her.

Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton were instrumental in getting the inquiry by Donna Ockenden established

Ms Davies and her husband Richard Stanton fought for years for acknowledgement that baby Kate's death was preventable.

They campaigned with other parents to get the Ockenden Review into SaTH's maternity care established. This reported in 2022 that poor care may have led to the deaths of 200 babies.

Since then, the Care Quality Commission found that services there had got better, but still graded them as requiring improvement.

Similar cases have emerged in several other areas, and Donna Ockenden who led the Shropshire inquiry is now investigating hospitals in Nottingham.

The Amos review is aimed at discovering why recommendations from previous reports, including in Shropshire, have not led to sustained improvements across maternity services.

Ms Davies said it would not be "just another inquiry", because previous investigations had been trust-specific.

"This is a case of going into several trusts and looking at where there are common themes."

She added: "I know there are many patterns of failure across the UK... and I think this is a step to understanding why some hospital trusts are so poor, some are hiding, some are finding it incredibly hard to be honest with people when things go wrong."