Donna Ockenden, midwife

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donna Ockenden is a former clinical midwife who led the Ockenden Review which revealed, at the time, the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history. Published in 2022, the review highlighted serious failings in maternity care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which contributed to the deaths of more than 200 babies and nine mothers.

Donna grew up in the village of Aberaman in the Welsh Valleys. She experienced a complicated childhood which included a period living in a homeless shelter along with her mother and four siblings. She is also a survivor of sexual abuse and believes her background helped her develop a tenacity and determination which she went on to apply to her work.

She completed her nursing training in Swansea and Neath and trained as a midwife at the Portsmouth School of Midwifery. In 2015 she became Senior Midwifery Adviser to the Chief Executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

In May 2022 she was appointed chair of the independent review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust which will be published next year. It is already the largest investigation into a single service in the NHS, hearing evidence from over 2,000 families so far.

Donna lives in Chichester with her two cats.

Details of organisations offering information and support with child sexual abuse or child bereavement are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

DISC ONE: We’ve Only Just Begun - The Carpenters DISC TWO: Bye Bye Baby - Bay City Rollers DISC THREE: Ukulele Lady - Ethel Merman DISC FOUR: Isn’t It Amazing - Hothouse Flowers DISC FIVE: If Only - Hazel O’Connor DISC SIX: I Can See Clearly Now - Hothouse Flowers DISC SEVEN: We’ll Keep a Welcome - Harry Secombe DISC EIGHT: Francesca - Hozier

BOOK CHOICE: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë LUXURY ITEM: Red lipstick CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Can See Clearly Now - Hothouse Flowers

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.
0:05.4	My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.
0:10.8	The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.
0:17.5	With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to
0:22.4	helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put
0:28.3	together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,
0:35.0	check out BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:41.3	Hello, I'm Lauren Levern and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast.
0:45.3	Every week I ask my guest to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them
0:50.3	if they were cast away to a desert island.
0:53.3	And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast.
0:58.2	I hope you enjoy listening.
1:22.2	I hope you enjoy listening. My castaway this week is the midwife Donna Ockenden.
1:26.7	She has dedicated most of her working life to taking care of mothers and babies.
1:35.9	For many years she did it on the wards, more recently by leading the investigation into what became at the time the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history.
1:41.7	Initially, she was asked to look into 23 cases, that soon became over a thousand.
1:46.3	Her landmark report, the Ockenden Review, was published in 2022.
1:52.9	It revealed a shocking, decades-long legacy of failings at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust,
2:00.8	a toxic mix of poor practice and working culture, which contributed to the deaths of more than 200 babies and nine mothers.
2:05.2	She's currently leading her next inquiry into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospital's NHS Trust,
2:08.4	which will be published next year.
2:10.7	It's already the largest investigation into a single NHS service,
	...

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