Yet another maternity scandal, this time at the John Radcliffe Hospital
A joint investigation by Channel 4 News and The New Statesman has exposed failings in maternity care at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. This latest scandal afflicting the Oxford University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust comes in the wake of a number of other maternity scandals involving NHS trusts in Leeds, East Kent, Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford and Nottingham. The revelations are all the more shocking because the trust in question has a prestigious reputation for its research.
It is alleged that the maternity unit at John Radcliffe Hospital pursued its own scanning pathway known as OxGrip, which did not adhere to national guidelines. Also, until 2021, the maternity unit had a clear policy of turning down all requests by mothers for Caesarean sections where there was no strict medical need, contrary to the NICE Guidelines prevailing at the time.
Over 20 families have raised serious allegations of substandard care resulting in the tragic loss of babies, babies being born with severe disabilities and harm to mothers; the accounts of their experiences are harrowing.
The CQC carried out an unannounced inspection of the Trust’s maternity unit on 7 October 2025 and the Trust is one of the 12 trusts under the rapid maternity review ordered by the Health Secretary and led by Baroness Valerie Amos.
These latest revelations only serve to strengthen the picture nationally that maternity care is in crisis.
After the Francis report into the widespread failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust back in 2013, many NHS Trusts promised to prioritise patient safety, embrace the values of transparency and accountability and learn from their mistakes, to ensure they were never again repeated.
But since that time, there has been scandal after scandal.
It is, of course positive that the urgently needed maternity review by Baroness Amos is now underway and families will be at its heart. It is hoped that this time round, valuable lessons will be learned and constructive steps taken to ensure mistakes are not repeated and that standards will improve. However, this all comes too late for families who have suffered loss or harm and whose lives have already been so seriously impacted by national maternity failings.
Our specialist Child Brain Injury team represent family members affected by poor maternity care at the Oxford University NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust.
