The UK Government has announced the appointment of the country's first independent Maternity and Neonatal Commissioner alongside a £41 million funding package aimed at improving
safety in maternity and neonatal services across England.
The measures come in response to Baroness Amos' independent investigation into maternity and neonatal care, which identified widespread failures across the NHS, including poor accountability, fragmented services and persistent inequalities affecting women and babies.
The new commissioner will provide independent oversight of maternity and neonatal services, hold the healthcare system to account and co-chair a new National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce with the Health Secretary. The role is also intended to ensure the experiences of women, babies and families are represented in decisions about service reform.
Baroness Amos' review examined the experiences of thousands of families and NHS staff, alongside investigations into 12 NHS trusts. The report concluded that maternity services have become overly complex, slow to respond to safety concerns and often fail to listen to women and frontline staff. It also highlighted evidence of racism and discrimination contributing to unequal standards of care.
The Government said a National Action Plan will be published in December 2026, outlining reforms designed to improve patient safety, reduce inequalities and strengthen accountability across maternity and neonatal services. The plan will be developed through the new taskforce, bringing together clinicians, families and healthcare experts.
Alongside the reforms, ministers announced an additional £41 million investment to address immediate safety concerns in maternity and neonatal units. The funding will be used to upgrade ageing facilities, improve ventilation systems, address fire safety risks and modernise infrastructure. The latest allocation follows £145 million invested in maternity and neonatal services since April 2025.
The Government also confirmed the introduction of national maternity triage standards intended to eliminate regional variations in care and provide more consistent treatment across England.
The latest announcement builds on a series of maternity safety initiatives introduced over the past year. These include programmes to reduce avoidable brain injuries during labour, efforts to lower rates of stillbirth, neonatal death and preterm birth, and the nationwide rollout of the Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme to strengthen safety and learning across maternity units.
Other measures include expanding specialist maternal mental health services, extending eligibility for baby loss certificates to cover historic losses, issuing new clinical guidance on the leading causes of maternal death, publishing a maternity and neonatal equalities dashboard, and extending Martha's Rule to maternity and neonatal wards to allow parents to request an urgent independent clinical review if they are concerned about deteriorating conditions.
The Government is also progressing legislation that would require current and former NHS staff to provide evidence during maternity reviews in Leeds and Sussex, while introducing tighter oversight of NHS mortuaries through a comprehensive audit of historical records.
While ministers acknowledged that many families receive high-quality maternity and neonatal care, they said the reforms are intended to address the continued occurrence of avoidable harm and restore confidence in NHS maternity services.
