Another maternity scandal shames Britain

Editorial: By ostracising ethnic minorities from a review of scandalous maternity care failings in Nottingham, the government has failed those who need it most

Donna Ockenden, chair of the review, has rightly warned that only a fraction of the Black and Asian women potentially affected by shortcomings in care have come forward (PA)

It is rare for an official inquiry to be criticised by its own chair, and more unusual still for doubt to be poured on its credibility by its own architects before it is even under way. However, Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife who is leading a review into maternity care failings at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, has been compelled to do just that.

Ms Ockenden has rightly warned that only a fraction of the Black and Asian women potentially affected by shortcomings (and worse) in care have come forward to tell their stories.

The matter at hand could hardly be more serious or upsetting. An investigation by The Independent has uncovered repeated examples of inadequate care over more than a decade, which left dozens of babies dead or brain-damaged. Fatal or life-changing injuries, in other words, that may well have been avoidable.