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Response to local report that is part of the National Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services

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Response to local report that is part of the National Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services

30th June 2026 (last updated 3rd July 2026)

Dr Melanie Iles, Chief Medical Officer for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“We thank the women, families, and colleagues, who shared their experiences with the national investigation. We also thank the investigation team. Their work will help us continue improving our maternity and neonatal services.

“It is very difficult to read the experiences of women, families and birthing partners, and of colleagues working in our maternity and neonatal services. We say sorry to anyone who has had a traumatic experience, been let down, not been listened to, or been harmed by our services.

“Our teams have done a huge amount of work to improve maternity and neonatal services and to provide safe, compassionate care to the women, babies, children and families we care for – but we have more work to do. We will listen to our service users’ feedback, work with our independent Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership to ensure we fully understand their experiences, and act on recommendations.

“We have acted quickly in response to concerns about the safety of our services and will continue to improve. We strive to embed an open culture in which women, families and colleagues feel safe, supported, and heard. This began as part of our response to the CQC’s reports into our maternity services, continued with our response to the CQC’s report into the paediatric service at Yeovil District Hospital, and was part of our preparations to reopen services in Yeovil. We know, and it is clear in these reports, that we have not always got that right and we will continue to work with our teams to develop an open, compassionate culture.

“Our local report highlights the impact of the old, outdated and cramped maternity unit at Musgrove Park Hospital on mothers, babies, families and maternity colleagues. We have made as many improvements as possible to this building, but it is not fit for use in a modern NHS and needs to be replaced urgently.

“New women’s and children’s facilities are part of our New Hospitals Programme, but the start of construction has been delayed by the national programme until 2033. We are exploring other possibilities, but the state of our mothers and children’s facilities at Musgrove Park Hospital needs to be urgently addressed.

“We are here to support anyone who is currently using our maternity services and has questions or concerns. Please reach out to your community midwife. Our trust’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service and the independent Somerset Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership are also there to support you.”

You can read the full report and the summary of the Individual Trust Reports on the National Maternity and Neonatal Investigation website.

You can also listen to an interview with Dr Iles on BBC Radio Somerset by following this link: Need To Know Somerset - Somerset NHS boss 'sorry' for maternity issues - BBC Sounds

Key dates and timeline

You can find more details about the timeline on our Improving our maternity services page.