NHS whistleblower says Amos review is 'disappointing'
BBCA former NHS investigator turned whistleblower has called for a public inquiry into maternity services, claiming it is the only way bereaved families will get the accountability they deserve.
Amanda Ford said she left her job in 2020 after her concerns about Yeovil District Hospital's maternity services were ignored. She claimed a "healthy baby died" due to the hospital's appalling conditions.
Dr Melanie Iles, chief medical officer for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said teams have done a huge amount of work to improve maternity services, but have "more work to do".
Yeovil District is one of 12 NHS trusts whose maternity and neonatal care has been under investigation by Baroness Valerie Amos.
Speaking about the national review, Ford said she was "really disappointed to see that a public inquiry is not one of those recommendations, when you consider the harm and the system failure at every level".
In her review, Baroness Amos included eight recommendations on how the maternity and neonatal system can be redesigned to deliver fundamental change.
They included the creation of a "statutory Maternity and Neonatal Commissioner" to oversee change, and for the system, including the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS trusts, to "take action to listen to the voices of women, birthing people and families".
The review found Somerset NHS Foundation Trust's Yeovil District Hospital maternity service is inconsistent, poorly coordinated, slow to respond and too often dismissive of families' concerns.
It also found some women with high-risk pregnancies, who were told they were on consultant-led care, never saw a consultant, and that families said that they been treated differently based on their race and ethnicity.
The regulator, the Care Quality Commission, reported concerns in 2024, leading to the temporary closure of Yeovil's maternity services.
The BBC previously reported that concerns about a shortage of consultants were raised in 2017 and again in 2019 by Ford while she was working for the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB).
After its interim report in February, and a BBC exposé on long-term problems at Yeovil District Hospital, Baroness Amos' team reached out to Ford.
Ford, who left her role in 2020, said she had tried to contact Baroness Amos before the BBC reported her concerns.
Ford, 56, told the BBC: "When I first met Baroness Amos and gave my evidence to her, I found her very engaging, very sympathetic and very switched on.
"However, I feel the report is very disappointing. The eight recommendations don't go far enough.
"There needs to be a public inquiry. The families deserve to hear that accountability. I said this back in 2020. Staff have (also) been failed.
"Toxic culture in the NHS has to be eradicated. A public inquiry would bring people… to give evidence under oath."
Dr Iles said that the trust would act on Amos report's recommendations.
She said: "We say sorry to anyone who has had a traumatic experience, been let down, not been listened to, or been harmed by our services."
'I was just appalled'
In February, Ford went public with what she had experienced.
"Yeovil was one of my first units I was asked to go and investigate some incidents," she said at the time.
"Within a month… I just was appalled. One was a baby death. That's a death that shouldn't have occurred - of a very healthy baby.
"One was a lady who was put through labour, who basically shouldn't have been labouring, and she was lucky to have survived that and her baby survived. It was just appalling care."
Ford did not provide the BBC with identifying details of either case.
At the time, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said it strived to have an open, safe culture and acknowledged it did not always get this right.
The HSIB no longer exists and its successor organisations declined to comment.
Health Secretary James Murray has previously said families are "not wrong to call" for a public inquiry and he understands where "that feeling comes from very strongly".
He stressed that "some people favour a public inquiry, others have a different view", but said at this stage he is "not taking anything off the table".
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