Baroness Amos and national review team to visit QEH in November
It has been confirmed that Baroness Valerie Amos and the team leading the National Maternity and Neonatal Review will visit The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 November 2025.
Their visit forms part of the independent national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services, announced by the Government in August 2025.
The review, led by Baroness Amos, aims to:
- Listen to the experiences of women, birthing people and families
- Share examples of best practice from across maternity and neonatal care
- Identify what more can be done to improve the quality of care for mothers and babies
A range of 12 Trusts from across England, including coastal, rural and urban areas, are taking part to ensure a broad and balanced range of voices are heard. As a rural district general hospital, The QEH, is the only hospital in the East of England to participate. Our maternity services are rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission.
Some initial findings from the national investigation will be published by the Government in December 2025 ahead of further findings in spring 2026.
Our involvement
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this important national programme.
Our maternity and neonatal teams are working closely with Baroness Amos and her independent investigators, sharing data, insight and examples of good practice to support the review’s work.
We look forward to hosting Baroness Amos and her team and to playing an active role in this vital national conversation about the future of maternity and neonatal care.
Our maternity and neonatal services
Each year, our maternity and neonatal teams care for around 1,900 women and families, both in hospital and in the community. Our staff are dedicated, skilled professionals who support women and birthing people through every stage of pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period.
Their commitment to providing kind, professional and responsive care underpins everything we do.
We continue to listen and learn from the experiences of those who use our services, working together to further enhance the care and support we provide.
Information for women and families
We understand that hearing about a national review may raise questions or feel concerning. Please be assured that this is part of a country-wide programme focused on listening, learning and strengthening maternity and neonatal services across England.
Our teams remain here to provide care and support as usual, throughout pregnancy, birth and beyond, both in hospital and in the community.
If you have any questions or would like to talk to someone, please speak with your midwife, consultant, or a member of our maternity team.
Rest assured we will provide further updates on our website.
Learn more about National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation on the Government website
Recent CQC inspection
Maternity services at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital were rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in March 2024.
Inspectors highlighted positive cultural change, strong teamwork, and that staff felt respected, supported and valued. They also praised how staff engaged with service users and were encouraged to develop their skills.
Read the full report on the CQC website
Questions and answers
No. Your care will continue as planned. The investigation is focused on reviewing past and current practices to help all NHS trusts improve. If you have any concerns, please speak to your midwife or consultant.
We value all feedback. You can share feedback with your midwife, through our Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), or by contacting our Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership.
You can also share you feedback directly with the investigation team by e-mailing MatNeoInvestigation@dhsc.gov.uk.
The following questions and answers have been shared by Baroness Valerie Amos to help local communities, colleagues and wider partners understand more about the investigation she is leading.
The decision to review these 12 trusts is based on a range of factors. These include data and metrics designed to capture individual elements of a trust’s outcomes and its patients’ experiences – such as the CQC maternity patient survey and MBRRACE-UK perinatal mortality rates.
The final selection has also been made with a view to working to ensure a diverse mix of trusts, including:
- Variation in case mix
- Trust type
- Geographic coverage
- Provision of care to individuals from diverse backgrounds, including consideration of social, economic and racial inequalities
- Family feedback
- Where previous investigations have taken place.
By taking this approach the Investigation can capture experience and learning from a wide range of trusts, ensuring the findings are relevant across the system.
The aims of the investigation are:
- To develop and publish one set of national recommendations to:
- Drive the improvements needed to ensure high quality and safe maternity and neonatal care across England
- Reduce inequalities and promote health equity in the delivery of those services
- To ensure that the lived experiences of women, babies and families, including fathers and non-birthing partners, are fully heard and used to inform the development of the national recommendations.
- To conduct and publish 12 local investigations of maternity and neonatal services in NHS Trusts and use these alongside other sources of data and evidence gathered by the investigation to inform the development of the national recommendations.
Local investigations will be carried out by trained investigators who will spend several days on site at each trust, supported by a small team. Visits will take place between October and December 2025, though these timings are indicative only and may need to change.
We are aware of the pressures faced by all trusts during the winter months and are keen to be as flexible as possible in our approach, while meeting the ambitious timelines for this review. We are committed to providing at least two weeks’ notice for any information requests, as well as advance notice of site visits, to ensure the process is as manageable as possible.
This investigation is about understanding and identifying lessons learned and driving the improvements needed to ensure high quality and safe maternity and neonatal care across England.
The local investigations team will speak to some staff. They will be notified in advance if the team would like to hear from them as part of their work.
This investigation is about 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 across England.
The local investigations will invite contributions from women and families who use the local services, but there will no obligation to contribute in this way. The national Investigation will also be conducting a public call for evidence so women and families who feel more comfortable contributing via this route will be able to do so.
The local investigations will invite contributions from all relevant parties when gathering evidence.
Last updated: 28 October 2025
Review due: 25 November 2025