Full Breakdown
Labour’s Health Secretary Yvette Cooper Announces National Maternity Programme
By Drooid · · How we work
New Healthy Babies Programme Announced
Yvette Cooper, the UK health secretary, is set to unveil the “Healthy Babies” programme at the closing day of the Labour conference. The plan will extend Sure Start-style family hubs to every local authority, aiming for up to 1,000 hubs across England by 2028. Each hub is intended to combine health-visiting, midwifery, infant-feeding advice, parental mental-health support and bonding services under one roof.
Background: Absence of a Nationwide Maternity Plan
Allies of Cooper told the Independent that she was “genuinely shocked” to learn the NHS has had no national maternity framework since 2012, when the plan was scrapped during the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition’s NHS reforms and austerity measures. The recent public attention on the Lucy Letby case—where a former nurse was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016—has highlighted systemic gaps in tracking infant deaths. An ally noted that some hospitals record adult deaths but not those of babies and children, suggesting the problem is widespread rather than isolated.
Key Figures Involved
- Yvette Cooper – UK health secretary, former New Labour minister who previously worked on a national maternity plan.
- Lucy Letby – Former nurse convicted of multiple infant murders at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
- Lady Justice Thirlwall – Chair of the statutory Thirlwall inquiry into the Chester hospital failures.
Data and Statistics
- No national maternity plan has existed since 2012.
- The Letby case involved seven infant murders and seven attempted murders.
- The Thirlwall inquiry examined events from 2015-2018 across more than 1,100 pages.
- The Healthy Babies rollout targets 1,000 family hubs by 2028.
Official Responses
Cooper’s allies said she has instructed officials to improve how NHS trusts record and respond to “high-level tragic cases” like Letby’s. The Thirlwall inquiry concluded that senior executives at the Chester hospital prioritized reputation over infant safety, delayed police involvement for a year and subjected whistle-blowing doctors to intimidation. Cooper is expected to stress that the new programme will create consistent standards and better accountability for maternity outcomes across the NHS.