Midwife leading Nottingham maternity inquiry charging NHS up to £26,000 a month | NHS
The midwife who conducted the biggest investigation into birth failures in NHS history is charging NHS England up to £26,000 a month for her advice through her company, the Guardian has revealed.
Donna Ockenden, who has chaired a review into maternity failures at Nottingham university hospitals NHS trust since 2022, is paid £850 per day for every 7.5 hours she works.
Asked for advice on monthly bills of up to £26,000, he said: “I work long hours.”
The monthly fees for “provision of independent advice” in connection with the investigation do not include the wider costs of the investigation, which are charged to NHS England (NHSE).
Donna Ockenden Ltd’s monthly bills can exceed £300,000 a month when costs such as day-to-day expenses, clinical review and administrative team fees, transcription, insurance, office space and HR services are added in.
Most of these additional charges are billed at cost, but Ockenden said “there is an element of profit in the provision of clinical and administrative services, but this is needed in part to cover a number of miscellaneous costs that do not fall within the charges passed on to NHSE under the agreement.”
Ockenden was initially on the NHS England payroll and taxed at source, but the arrangement was changed in January 2024.
As part of the new supply deal, his daily rate has also increased by £100 (13%), from £750 to £850. For his advice alone, he subsequently billed £22,669.50 for March 2024, £20,626.67 for April, £22,329.50 for May, £20,034.60 for June and £26,069.50 for July.
Operating through a UK limited company can offer tax advantages by structuring income through a combination of salary and dividends to minimize tax and national insurance (NIC) costs.
Ockenden said: “The payment details you have are correct. I have been working long hours on the review. I plan to devote the majority of my time to the review until it is published in June 2026.”
“The current contractual arrangement provides value to the taxpayer and involves me conducting all aspects of the review, including coordinating a large clinical review team.”
On the tax arrangements, he added: “I, along with all the people working on the review, were personally retained by NHSE because the review was initially managed by NHSE. These arrangements naturally came to an end when responsibility for managing and delivering the review was contracted out to DO Limited.”
Ockenden’s daily wages exceed the UK average weekly wage of £766.60, highlighting the high costs of a series of reviews of maternity and neonatal services carried out at NHS trusts in recent years.
Baroness Amos, who is leading an investigation into NHS maternity services in England, noted in an interim report published in early December that despite a significant number of independent investigations and reviews of maternity and neonatal services in NHS trusts since 2015, England “still struggles to provide safe, reliable maternity and neonatal care across all parts of the country”.
Ockenden has been praised for his work, including previous inspection in Shrewsbury and Telford.
In October, Leeds said its teaching hospitals had received support from affected families to take on a similar role in the NHS trust’s investigation.
As well as chairing the inquiry in Leeds, he said he would be willing to chair the next maternity review at the Sussex University Hospitals NHS trust, describing it as an “honor” to be reckoned with.
Shortly afterwards, health minister Wes Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour that Ockenden would not lead the Leeds review due to existing commitments.
“He will not be leading the Leeds investigation, particularly as he has led work in Nottingham, Shrewsbury and Telford,” he said. “If I could clone her I would, but everyone wants Donna because she has gained the trust of the families she works with, I understand that and have great respect for her.
“But I need to make sure that I protect the work that Donna is already doing, but I also need to build a wider team of people who can support the government, who can support the NHS when problems arise.”
An NHS spokesman said: “Following the then secretary of state’s appointment of the independent review chair in spring 2022, NHS England worked to ensure the review met the terms of reference for families by launching a new contractual agreement in January 2024.
“Women and families deserve answers and improved maternity services in Nottingham, and the publication of the review’s final report by June 2026 at the latest will be a critical step in achieving this.”
