PSA response to the Ockenden Review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals
26 Jun 2026
The Independent Review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is a shocking and distressing read. It has revealed longstanding and embedded systemic failings, alongside an entrenched toxic culture that has resulted in mothers and babies suffering harm or dying.
Our thoughts are with those families, and we recognise the courage of all those who shared their experiences of harm and bereavement.
The report sets out recommendations and essential actions to prevent such failures from happening again.
The scale and persistence of the issues identified, including concerns relating to leadership and the failure to investigate and learn from incidents over many years, are extremely troubling. The Review describes an embedded culture frequently characterised as toxic, with bullying and poor behaviours left unchallenged, alongside findings of racism, discrimination and stereotyping.
Fair, accessible and responsive systems for raising and acting on concerns are essential to patient safety. It is vital that patients, families and professionals feel confident that concerns will be taken seriously, investigated appropriately, and lead to meaningful action.
The Review also raises significant concerns about oversight. Erosion of trust in both system and professional regulators has been a specific feature of the experience of Nottingham families. This erosion of trust, alongside a lack of clarity about how and where to raise concerns, is particularly concerning.
The PSA will consider the report, and its recommendations in detail, alongside the expected Government response, and further insights expected with the publication of the Amos National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation next week. We will work with the professional regulators we oversee, and with our partners across the system, to support embedding learning from the Review’s findings and the required changes. We need to do everything we can to prevent such failings and suffering in the future.
ENDS
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk
Notes to the editor
- The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the UK’s oversight body for the regulation of people working in health and social care. Our statutory remit, independence and expertise underpin our commitment to the safety of patients and service-users, and to the protection of the public. There are 10 organisations that regulate health professionals in the UK and social workers in England by law. We audit their performance and review their decisions on practitioners’ fitness to practise.
- We also accredit and set standards for organisations holding registers of health and care practitioners not regulated by law. We collaborate with all of these organisations to improve standards. We share good practice, knowledge and our right-touch regulation expertise.
- We also conduct and promote research on regulation. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally, providing guidance to governments and stakeholders. Through our UK and international consultancy, we share our expertise and broaden our regulatory insights.
- Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.