About me
Donna Ockenden has more than 35 years’ experience of working within a variety of health settings, both in the UK and internationally. Her most notable work has been as Chair of the Independent Review of Maternity Services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospitals NHS Trust; Chair of the Review into the Tawel Fan Ward at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd; and Chair of the Review of Governance in Older Persons Mental Health at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in North Wales. In May 2022, Donna was appointed as the Chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Early and personal life
Donna was born in 1966 in Aberdare, South Wales. She is the eldest of five siblings. In 1985, as a young adult aged 18, Donna and her family found themselves homeless and living in bed and breakfast accommodation. For a period of time, Donna took responsibility for her four younger siblings, aged four to sixteen.
Donna and family moved to Abu Dhabi with her father’s work in 1976. It was here that Donna’s love for the Middle East grew, and the United Arab Emirates remains a place that she has often sought after and returns to. Donna gave birth to her first daughter, Caiti, in Oman in 2000. She would often take Caiti to work with her on her days off, where the midwives and nurses would love and dote on her. In 2004, Donna had her youngest daughter, Phoebe, in Portsmouth. Phoebe grew up in West Sussex.
Early career – ‘Gina promise’
Donna saw her first birth as a student midwife in a small labour ward in Neath, South Wales. She was so excited that as soon as the baby was born, she ran down the hill to the nearest telephone box so that she could call her mother and tell her.
As a newly qualified midwife, Donna nearly left midwifery after caring for a newborn baby called Gina. Gina’s mum, Veronica, had been in labour in a nearby hospital and had been left in obstructed labour for almost six days. After a difficult birth Gina was born in a very poor condition. She was transferred to Portsmouth, where Donna worked, for neonatal intensive care but sadly was too poorly to live. After the neonatal team could do no more for her, Gina came to Donna’s ward with her parents. At shift handover that day Donna volunteered to care for Gina and her parents in a single room on her ward until she died.
Donna lacked experience, was really frightened, and asked herself as she stood outside their door: ‘Why are you doing this? Why not just go back to the ward sister and say you can’t do it?’ But another voice in her head told her: ‘Do your best, be kind. Go on, just do your best…’. In Gina’s final hours, Donna helped her parents do all they could for Gina, cuddling her, bathing her, putting on her best dress, taking photographs and caring for her until she died later that evening. Gina’s parents went home to rest and shower, they hadn’t slept for 6 days, with her mother leaving Donna with very specific instructions: Donna was not to let Gina be taken to the mortuary by a stranger, she was to take her herself in a cot.
At the time, the hospital was very busy as it was visiting hour. There were people in every corridor, stair case, and lift, and children asking Donna whether they could see her baby. Donna decided to wait with Gina in a quiet room in the neonatal unit until the crowds had gone, to give her the privacy she felt she deserved. As she sat with her, she couldn’t help but think that she couldn’t stay in a profession where babies died, completely avoidably, due to a lack of care by midwives and obstetricians. But Donna knew, when holding Gina, that she could make a difference if she just stayed. So, she made to Gina, her “Gina promise”. Donna told her that no matter how long or short her career in midwifery/in maternity services, she would dedicate her life to making maternity care safer so that babies like Gina wouldn’t die avoidably in the way that she had.
Donna trained as a nurse and midwife in the UK from 1986-1991, and registered in 1989, and 1991 respectively. In 1999-2001, Donna worked as Head of Midwifery and Head of Gynaecology and Neonatology in Khoula Hospital, Muscat, Oman. It was here, that Donna was co-author of the first national maternity standards in the Sultanate of Oman. Donna then went on to lead the successful introduction of those standards into practice across the Muscat region. In Muscat, Donna led a multidisciplinary team, parents, government representatives, and faith leaders on the introduction of maternity and gynaecology bereavement standards – this was then rolled out nationally. In 2001, Donna returned to the UK and took on various leadership roles within a number of Trusts across Sussex, Hampshire, and London.
Career and notable accomplishments
- 2006-2014 – Chair of RCM England Heads of Midwifery Advisory Board
- 2013-2017 – Co Clinical Director London Strategic Clinical Network with Prof Donald Peebles
- 2014-2017 – Member of the RCM Advisory Forum
- September 2016 – June 2017 – London Clinical Network Lead for Maternity Bereavement Project in partnership with SANDS and NHS England, to develop all England maternity bereavement toolkits with a family-centred approach. In June 2017, the Maternity Bereavement Experience Measure (MBEM) was launched
- 2016 – Donna and her two daughters founded The Four Streets Project in Chichester, to help support homeless people https://www.fourstreetschichester.org.uk/
- July 2018 – Publication of the Independent Governance Review into older persons mental health, North Wales, which Donna was the author of
- February 2019 – Chichester District Council awarded Donna a Civic award for services to homeless and vulnerable people
- August 2015 – January 2020 – Senior Midwifery Adviser to the Chief Executive of the NMC https://www.nmc.org.uk/news/press-releases/2015/nmc-welcomes-donna-ockenden-as-senior-midwifery-advisor/
- February 2021 – Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture, and Commerce (FRSA)
- June 2022 – listed in the HSJ’s 100 ‘most influential people in health’ https://www.hsj.co.uk/hsj100/hsj100-the-most-influential-people-in-health/7032568.article
- March 2022 – Publication of the Final Report of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
- July 2022 – listed in Vogue as one of ‘The Year’s Most Influential Women’ https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/the-vogue-25-list-2022
- July 2023 – awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of West London for her achievements and expertise in UK maternity services
- May 2024 – Publication of the APPG Birth Trauma Inquiry, which Donna gave evidence to https://www.theo-clarke.org.uk/files/2024-05/Birth%20Trauma%20Inquiry%20Report%20for%20Publication_May13_2024.pdf
- June 2024 – Broadcast of ITV Documentary ‘Maternity: Broken Trust’. A documentary that follows the lives of several families who are part of the ongoing Nottingham Maternity Review
- September 2024 – awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Chichester for her notable accomplishments within the healthcare sector https://www.chi.ac.uk/news/honorary-graduates-2024-donna-ockenden/
Independent Review Work
In 2016, Donna was commissioned by the then UK Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Hunt, to chair an independent review into maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. Originally, reviewing 23 maternity cases of concern, the review grew to around 1,500 individual clinical cases. An interim report of initial findings considering 250 cases of concern was published in December 2020, followed by a final report considering all cases was published in March 2022.
In May 2022, following appointment by the then Secretary of State the Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, NHS England announced that Donna would be the new Chair for an independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH). Nottinghamshire families campaigned for Donna to Chair the Review prior to her appointment. In September 2022, the Review commenced. The Review is currently at almost 2,000 cases, making this the largest Review of a single service in the NHS. Donna and her Review team are intending to publish their final report in September 2025.
Charitable Work
Donna founded the Four Streets Project with her daughters, Caiti and Phoebe in 2016, to help homeless people in Chichester by providing them with food, bedding, and warm clothing. After moving to Chichester in 2016, they felt compelled to help the homeless people sleeping in doorways in the main ‘four streets’ of Chichester City Centre. Donna and her daughters began feeding those in need from their home in Chichester. Since 2017, a group of volunteers have worked together to provide a 365 day a year service every night to offer food and drinks, blankets, coats, sleeping bags, and toileteries. In partnership with the Chichester Observer, and Chichester City Council, the Four Streets Project set up ‘Chichester’s Community Coat Rack’ in 2015 to provide free coats to those in need in the winter.
Donna works in partnership with teachers at Prebendal School, to present ‘The Ockenden Award for Charitable Endeavour’. The winner is a student who is judged to have made the most effort to support charitable causes in their time at the school. Donna provides a donation to the charity of the pupil’s choice and a small gift to the winner in recognition of their hard work along with an antique silver cup. Donna provides a total of three annual awards to Portsmouth High School for Girls called ‘The Ockenden Award for Helping Others’. In the 6th form Donna awards the Ockenden award for Endeavour to the pupil who has achieved success in the face of adversity or difficulty. For each award Donna makes a donation to the charity of each pupil’s choice, provides a book token to each pupil, along with an antique silver cup.
Donna is proud to be the Honorary President of Baby Lifeline, an ambassador for Sands, and patron for MASIC – three charities with the joint aim to make maternity care safer in the UK, and internationally.
Last Updated 10th October 2024