Michelle Welsh MP Appointed Government Maternity Adviser After Nottingham Hospital Failings
Michelle Welsh, the Labour Member of Parliament for Sherwood Forest, has been named the government’s inaugural national maternity adviser. This appointment follows her personal testimony detailing significant failings in maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, an experience now central to the largest independent review of NHS maternity services.
New Role Focuses on Systemic Reform
Ms Welsh will collaborate with families, government departments, the NHS, and various maternity organisations to drive what the Department of Health describes as “better, safer care for mothers, babies and families.” Her role is deeply informed by her own childbirth experience in 2020 at NUH, where she states her and her son William's lives were “put at risk by a failing maternity service.”
The independent inquiry into NUH, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, is expected to publish its comprehensive findings in June. This review, which commenced in September 2022, encompasses approximately 2,500 families who have reported harm to mothers and infants, making it an unprecedented investigation into NHS maternity care.
Ms Welsh, who also chairs the all-party parliamentary group for maternity, emphasised the personal significance of her new position. “Like far too many women across this country, I know what it feels like to come through childbirth carrying both physical and emotional scars,” she stated, asserting that this experience has “strengthened my determination to fight for safer, more compassionate maternity care for every family.”
Health Secretary James Murray welcomed the appointment, acknowledging that “far too many women and families have been let down by maternity services.” He added that Ms Welsh “brings exactly the commitment and expertise this role demands.” Ms Welsh will also serve on the national maternity and neonatal taskforce, established by former health secretary Wes Streeting. A separate rapid review of England's maternity services, conducted by Baroness Amos, is due to conclude next month.
