Health secretary seeks advice over maternity inquiry staff who refused to give evidence

Britain’s health secretary James Murray said he is seeking legal advice on whether senior clinicians who did not give evidence to the Ockenden Review can be compelled to testify under a proposed new law tied to the Hillsborough Law. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday, Murray called it “totally unacceptable” that some senior staff refused to participate in the inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust. He said he is assessing whether the duty of candour could apply retrospectively. The Ockenden Review, published in June and led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, found potentially avoidable outcomes in 520 cases and “deeply embedded systemic failures” at Nottingham’s maternity units, after submissions from about 2,500 families and more than 800 NUH staff. Murray also referenced affected families, while NUH’s chief executive Anthony May told the BBC that senior executives currently working for NUH engaged with the review.