London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Sajid Javid vows to ‘go after’ those responsible for NHS maternity scandal

Sajid Javid vows to ‘go after’ those responsible for NHS maternity scandal

Health secretary says he wants people held to account for Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust failings
Sajid Javid has vowed to “go after” the people responsible for the biggest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS, saying he will “leave no stone unturned” to ensure they are held to account.

An independent inquiry led by Donna Ockenden found that 201 babies and nine mothers could have or would have survived if Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust had provided better care. No staff member or health leader in charge was identified in the damning 234-page report published on Wednesday, despite presiding over catastrophic failings.

But on Thursday the health secretary said he was “appalled” by the conclusions of the inquiry. He promised to track down the individuals whose failures left hundreds of babies dead or severely injured.

Speaking at Barking community hospital, where he was visiting a diagnostics centre, Javid said it was right the government had accepted the report’s recommendations “to make sure this kind of thing never happens again”. “But it is also right – and I’m absolutely determined to do this – that we make sure we go after the people responsible,” he said.

“Of course there were systemic failures, we must change systems, but there were also individual failures, and I want to make sure that we leave no stone unturned in finding the people that were responsible for this and making sure that they are held to account.”

The patient safety charity, Action against Medical Accidents, backed Javid’s call for tough action against bosses who had run the trust, saying it “wants the people responsible for scandals like this to be held to account and not be able to take up similar roles elsewhere”.

The group, which was a core participant in the Mid Staffordshire care scandal official inquiry, also urged ministers to bring in the regulation of senior NHS managers, to mirror the systems already in place for many health professionals so they can be banned if found guilty of rule-breaking.

Peter Walsh, the group’s chief executive, said: “There must also be accountability for senior managers responsible for awful scandals like this. There should be regulation of senior managers similar to arrangements in place for doctors and nurses, so that they can be struck off a register and prevented from taking on similar roles.”

Walsh also voiced concern that some of the recommendations from the 2015 inquiry into the Morecambe Bay maternity scandal, as well as Ockenden’s initial findings published last year, had still not been acted on. For example, there has been “little or no progress” in the creation of “senior independent advocates” to support women who have concerns about maternity services.

Police are examining 600 cases linked to the Shrewsbury scandal. Wednesday’s report into baby deaths at the trust condemned health staff and leaders for blaming grieving mothers while repeatedly ignoring their own catastrophic blunders for decades.

Earlier on Thursday a cabinet minister revealed she was told she would not be having a C-section despite enduring a “very difficult” labour with her first child. Anne-Marie Trevelyan said it made her “feel sick” to know “in too many cases difficult births can end in the most appalling tragedy”.

The international trade secretary told Times Radio she was “basically told I wasn’t going to have a caesarean section”. She said the Shrewsbury inquiry, which found several mothers were forced to have natural births when they could have been offered a caesarean, “reminded me that there has been for a long time a culture which says natural birth: good; caesarean: bad”.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×