I have welcomed the decision to include Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) in a major national investigation into maternity and neonatal services, chaired by Baroness Valerie Amos. This includes the Horton Hospital, in Banbury.

The review will cover 14 NHS trusts across England and aims to deliver urgent recommendations to improve safety, quality, and equity of care in maternity and neonatal services. Trusts were selected based on family feedback, clinical cases, geographic coverage, care for diverse communities, and evidence from bereaved and harmed families.

The investigation will focus on understanding the experiences of affected women and families, identifying lessons learned and driving the improvements needed to ensure high quality and safe maternity and neonatal care. It will also include understanding the lived experiences of families, reviewing the quality and safety of services, identifying the drivers and impact of inequalities and identifying barriers to making improvements.

This is particularly relevant, as local people have been campaigning for better services at the Horton Hospital, after it was changed to a midwife-led unit in 2016. The ‘Keep The Horton General’ campaign group published a dossier of failings last year, including stories of traumatic incidents and poor care experienced by local people.

On taking office last July, one of the first things I did was stick the dossier into maternity failings, compiled by local Horton Hospital campaigners, on Wes Streeting’s desk. That the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has included the Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in Baroness Amos’ review into Maternity failings is a recognition that the service has let down local mums for too long. I am hopeful that this is the start of a process which leads to better outcomes for new mums and babies in our area and across the UK.