A day of collaboration, learning, and shared hope for a safer maternity future.
Baby Lifeline’s sixth annual National Maternity Safety Conference 2025 took place on 25th September in Birmingham. We were delighted to welcome more than 400 people – including frontline healthcare professionals, NHS leaders, policymakers, researchers, and families – to discuss the theme Shaping the Future of Maternity Care Together.
View the conference webpage and programme here.
The day began with an introduction from Baby Lifeline’s Founder and CEO Judy Ledger MBE, Honorary President Dr Bill Kirkup CBE, and Baby Lifeline’s Family Voices Group Co-Chair, Susanna Stanford. Susanna spoke movingly about the importance of listening to women and families, and ensuring good care for everyone that uses maternity services.
The conference featured keynote addresses from the Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Hunt MP, Jennifer O’Donnell and Dr Richard Duggins, who delivered powerful insights on policy and process improvements, and emphasised the importance of focussing on staff wellbeing. Throughout the day we were reminded of the human impact behind the statistics. Sandra Igwe, Chief Executive and Founder of The Motherhood Group and a member of Baby Lifeline’s Family Voices Group, reminded us that inclusion is not symbolic but essential for safety.
A number of recurring messages shaped the day:
- Collaboration is essential – sustainable improvements in maternity safety depend on multidisciplinary teamwork
- Evidence must inform practice – research and data need to translate into actionable change
- The voices of families matter – the experiences of parents and families are central to understanding where services succeed, where they fall short and where they can improve.
Dr Richard Duggins, Consultant Psychiatrist in Medical Psychotherapy, gave a thought-provoking afternoon keynote on reducing burnout and supporting staff wellbeing. Dr Duggins raised the importance of acting early to prevent burnout and the need to create more frequent and safe opportunities for professionals to be open about their mental health.
Speakers covered a number of themes, including:
- Reducing Mortality & Morbidity: Speakers presented national updates and quality improvement projects, showing both progress and persistent challenges. A strong emphasis was placed on learning from incidents and embedding robust safety cultures across trusts.
- Inclusion, Access & Communication: The conference highlighted the urgent need to address inequalities in maternity outcomes and to ensure services are accessible, culturally aware, and inclusive.
- Workforce, Culture & Outcomes: Speakers discussed the importance of restorative justice as a way of working, and shared the impact of psychological safety and compassionate leadership.
- The Future of Maternity Safety: The conference concluded with a panel discussion focussing on The Future of Maternity Safety. We were particularly struck by Michelle Welsh (MP for Sherwood Forest and Chair of the Maternity All Party Parliamentary Group)’s call for the forthcoming rapid national investigation into NHS maternity and neonatal services – commissioned by Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting – to be improvement-focused and supported by the appropriate mechanisms and funding to support decisive and positive action.
Sir Jeremy Hunt set out his five key recommendations for a safer maternity future:
- A Care Quality Commission with a reviewed and refocussed agenda
- Reduction in central targets and greater empowerment of local leaders
- Streamlining of recommendations with a focus and oversight on implementation
- A decisive shift to tackle and move aware from blame culture
- Litigation reform.
We believe that our conference demonstrated that progress in maternity safety is possible through collaborative working, evidence-based practice, and meaningful engagement with families.
We were also delighted to welcome poster presentations again this year. Congratulations to the winners (Bart’s Trust and Elly Charity) – you can view all posters here.
What did delegates think?
- It was a wonderful day and we felt very humbled to be in the room with so many people wanting to change the culture.
- A fantastic day overall, an amazing array of speakers and panellists. I learned so much. Thank you.
- Informative and challenging
- Thank you for an excellent conference, I can’t wait to attend next year.
- Another fabulous day. Thank you team Baby Lifeline.
We would like to thank our headline sponsors Leigh Day, Irwin Mitchell and Baby Lifeline Training Ltd, without whom the day would not be possible. Thank you to all speakers and chairs, our advisory panels, exhibitors, all those that attended the conference, and to the Baby Lifeline team.
We look forward to seeing you again next year!
