Former health secretary Wes Streeting has urged Parliament to summon NHS bosses who refused to give evidence to the Nottingham maternity scandal review.
Donna Ockenden’s report into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust found more than 500 mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or died due to “deeply embedded systemic failures” at the “toxic” trust.
The report found NUH knew there were serious issues in its maternity department going back years, but failed to take action.
Mr Streeting said he was “appalled” at the “refusal of senior NHS leaders to cooperate” with the review. He said 31 of 66 local executives and directors who were approached about their roles in the scandal refused to be interviewed – and only four of 14 senior regional NHS leaders had agreed to participate.
In a letter to Health and Social Care Select Committee chair Layla Moran, Mr Streeting said “their cowardice is an insult to the Nottingham families”.
He called on Ms Moran to “summon those who refused to give evidence to Donna Ockenden to explain their actions before Parliament”.
Mr Streeting added: “If the threat of being held in contempt of Parliament is necessary to force those in positions of power to be held accountable, then so be it.”
In the letter, the former health secretary wrote: “Having sat and listened to those parents recount their harrowing experiences, of harm and bereavement, I find it simply unconscionable that people who have worked for the NHS would deny them an honest account of what went wrong and why.
“By doing so, they have shown a complete disregard for the safety of patients in general, because we need to make sure that the right lessons are learned and acted upon to prevent future harm.
“This is indicative of the cover-up culture in the NHS that must be brought to an end.
“Nottingham families should not have to wait and those who held positions of power and responsibility should not be able to evade scrutiny and accountability.”
The Government said it would appoint a national maternity commissioner to drive change after a report concluded families have suffered from repeated failures in NHS care.
The “rapid review” into maternity care, led by Baroness Valerie Amos, called for urgent change to the way women and families are treated, including when they phone in with concerns during pregnancy and labour.
However, families whose children were harmed or died due to NHS maternity failings said the report from Lady Amos was not sufficiently independent and have called for a statutory public inquiry.
The Maternity Safety Alliance said plans for a new national maternity commissioner in the format proposed by Lady Amos were “dangerous”, while there was not enough scrutiny of regulators such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and General Medical Council (GMC).
