The NHS Alliance homepage

Signs of progress on maternity care

10 December 2025

Daniel Elkeles responds to the care Quality Commission's annual national maternity survey.

  • Regulation

  • Improvement

Responding to findings from the Care Quality Commission’s annual national maternity survey, the chief executive of NHS Providers, Daniel Elkeles, said:

"Coming at a time of real scrutiny and debate about maternity services, it is encouraging to see clear signs of progress.

"Trusts have been working hard to improve maternity care, tackle safety concerns and address health inequalities.

"However, there’s still a long way to go.

"Real and sustained improvement will require a whole-system effort to ‘level up’ the quality of care across the country.

"We need to see more work on prevention and to tackle racism.

"Trusts have a vital role to play, but they cannot deliver this change alone. It must be a shared responsibility across the entire health and care system."

Related articles

  • Conference

    NICON26 Conference & Exhibition

    7 - 8 October 2026In-person
    • Delivery and performance

    • Digital

    • Finance

    • Governance

    • Health inequalities

    • Commissioning

    • Communications

    • Leadership

    • Improvement

    • Neighbourhood health

    • Prevention

    • Primary care

    • Social care

    • Workforce

    • Regulation

  • Abstract background with curved blue and green tones in NHS Providers’ brand style, featuring the Board Development programme logo.
    Training

    NHS quality for non-executive directors

    22 September 20269:30 - 16:00Online

    What does ‘quality’ mean in the NHS and how can you influence it from the boardroom? This one-day course helps NEDs build confidence, ask the right questions, and support better care outcomes.

    • Improvement

    • Leadership

    • Quality

  • News

    Lessons identified in Ockenden review must lead to real change

    Matthew Hopkins responds to the Ockenden review and the government's decision to roll out Martha's Rule to all maternity services.

    • Quality