On Wednesday 24 June, the Ockenden Review was published, a harrowing read compiling the stories of more than 2,500 parents whose babies were sadly not given the care and attention they needed from the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust between Spring 2012 and 31 May 2025.

Tragically, many parents who gave evidence were left bereaved of their baby. The review highlights that many of these deaths were preventable.

Beginning in 2022, the Ockenden Review, headed by Senior Midwife and health care leader Donna Ockenden, has been a growing conversation surrounding the failings thousands of parents and unborn babies experienced from the Nottingham University Hospitals.

Child Bereavement UK wishes to acknowledge the publication of this review and to highlight the bravery of the bereaved parents who gave evidence and shared their experiences.

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Letizia Perna, Director of Services and Service Transformation at Child Bereavement UK, comments:

The impact on bereaved parents is unquantifiable. Every day in the UK, expecting families walk out of the hospital, sadly, without their baby. These tragedies have a devastating impact on the parents and families; however, when these deaths are preventable, that grief has so many extra layers of complications.

The Ockenden Review document is more than 350 pages long, each sentence detailing the personal stories and tragedies of many families.

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Letizia adds:

The recent publication of the Ockenden Review is certainly heavy reading, and it is unimaginable what these families have experienced.

The review recounts so many heart-breaking stories of mothers who have died in pregnancy as well as babies who have been lost pre- and postnatally, these each leaving behind a circle of family and friends stunned by an unexpected bereavement.

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Child Bereavement UK CEO Fergus Crow comments:

The Ockenden Review is a sadly necessary but surely devastating read. 350 pages are dedicated to the stories of thousands of families whose lives and the lives of their children were tragically endangered by systematic failures.

Child Bereavement UK’s work with parents bereaved of a baby or child and young people who are grieving mothers or siblings has made us keenly aware of the devastation death can have on a family, made all the more difficult when that death is preventable or the result of failings.

It is important that the Ockenden Review has listened to the parents, carers and families of those affected. We support and credit the bravery of these individuals for coming forward and expressing some of the most painful experiences a parent can encounter.

Child Bereavement UK supports bereaved parents and knows the impact that the death of a baby or child can have on parents, carers and the wider familial network, including children and young people who are bereaved of a sibling or of a parent in childbirth.

Whereas the Ockenden Review has shone a spotlight on the failings many patients suffered, there is an ongoing call for a review of maternity services throughout the UK which includes a promise from the Government to invest £9m in appropriate bereavement suites in hospitals throughout the UK.

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CEO Fergus Crow continues:

We are pleased to see the promise to improve upon care and attention for pregnant mothers and babies, not just within the Nottinghamshire region but with wider learning throughout the UK.