Baroness Amos finds racism, cover-ups and staff shortages at heart of maternity failings
baroness amos has delivered an interim review concluding that maternity and neonatal services in England are failing "too many" families, documenting racism, falsified records and staffing breakdowns that campaigners say demand urgent action.
Baroness Amos identifies six factors after thousands of submissions
The interim report, drawn from more than a decade of family testimony and submissions, lists six key areas underpinning failures: racism, staffing, accountability and other systemic problems. More than 8, 000 people submitted evidence and the reviewer met more than 400 families, alongside months of conversations with hundreds of families and staff across 12 NHS trusts. The review comes in the form of a 35-page report and flags that services are "failing too many women, babies, families and staff. " Health Secretary Wes Streeting has promised to act on the final recommendations; the timing of those final recommendations is unclear in the provided context.
Racism and discrimination documented in specific, repeated examples
The report records racism and discrimination throughout maternity and neonatal services. It records accounts of Asian women being stereotyped as "princesses, " with the implication they are overly demanding or unable to cope with pain, and Black women being described as having "tough skin" and being "able to tolerate pain. " Muslim families reported feeling discriminated against on the basis of religion and said they were unable to raise concerns for fear that discriminatory attitudes might lead to poor treatment for their baby. Investigators also recorded discrimination against disabled women, refugee and asylum women and LGBT families, and found structural racism and persistent inequalities that contribute to notably higher risk of adverse outcomes for women from Black and Asian backgrounds and for women from more deprived areas.
Allegations of cover-ups, amended notes and misclassified deaths
The inquiry found repeated allegations that trusts resorted to secrecy when harm occurred. Families described instances in which medical records were amended or redacted, and in one case a woman said the trust "handed my solicitors magical notes that reappeared out of nowhere after three years, " while her mother had been taking notes at the time. Investigators heard claims that hospitals falsify medical records and deny bereaved parents answers. Some families alleged that babies were designated stillborn rather than recorded as dying after birth; "They felt the system incentivised the recording of deaths as stillbirths as this prevents the case from being investigated by a coroner, " the report says. Separate campaigners Jack and Sarah Hawkins, whose daughter Harriet was stillborn, were not part of the inquiry but have pushed for a separate investigation for bereaved and harmed families in Nottingham. Jack said he and others have met people who say their babies were born alive while hospitals claim they were born dead; he said he believes the victims rather than the NHS. Sarah said the interim report "isn't going to change anything, " and argued families want a statutory public inquiry and some form of justice because, she said, in other types of death people would be held to account.
Staffing pressures, fractured team relationships and safety risks
The report ties service failures to capacity pressures and staff shortages that affect every stage of care. It records services being depleted or stopped, stretched antenatal wards and delivery units causing delays to admissions, and the use of community midwives in delivery units in ways that can impact safety. Shortages were said to delay assessment by doctors, delay planned caesarean sections and induced labours, prevent planned home births, and shorten antenatal appointments so they cannot properly address concerns. The review describes "poor relationships" between team members such as obstetricians and midwives, and says racist and bullying behaviour by senior clinicians is not always dealt with by management. Disputes among maternity staff were described as having a "disastrous" impact on mothers, and the report uses the word "negligent" to describe some care with devastating emotional and psychological consequences for families.
Infrastructure, workforce morale and a call for change in 2026
Investigators described a burnt-out workforce delivering babies in dilapidated buildings, with accounts of crumbling infrastructure, births in undignified circumstances and a lack of compassion and care. The review notes that recent rises in older motherhood and in obesity among women having babies have made care more complicated. Baroness Amos said she has seen "bad, poor, good and excellent care co-existing side by side, " with families reporting both good and terrible experiences and wide inconsistency between services. She concluded that "the system is not working for women, babies and families, or for staff, " and asked how the state of services could be regarded as acceptable in 2026.
Next steps, accountability and calls for statutory inquiry
The interim report urges urgent action on safety, racism and staffing, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting has pledged to act on the final recommendations. Campaigners and some bereaved families have rejected the inquiry's scope, pressing instead for a statutory public inquiry and stronger accountability mechanisms. The review highlights that trusts have not consistently learned lessons from previous maternity scandals and warns that without sustained change the cycle of harm and secrecy will continue, compounding distress for families and frustration among staff.
