Progress on maternity services ’requires improvement’, finds panel led by UCL academic

An expert panel, Chaired by UCL's Professor Dame Jane Dacre, has concluded the UK Government's overall progress to achieve four key commitments in maternity services 'requires improvement'. Set up by the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee, the independent panel has piloted a new evaluation system, giving Care Quality Commission-style ratings on the government's performance in meeting policy commitments on maternity services in England. The objective evaluation, designed to enhance the select Committee's core task of holding the government and ministers to account. Alongside the overall rating, the panel concluded progress on three of the government's commitments on maternity services 'require improvement', while a fourth commitment was rated as 'inadequate'. Further the panel concluded, none of the Government's commitments can be achieved without ensuring that maternity services have the right number of staff, in the right place, at the right time and with the right skills. Dame Jane, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee's Expert Panel, and Professor of Medical Education at UCL, said: "This is the first evaluation of its kind, commissioned by the Health and Social Care Committee and carried out independently by a panel of experts. Using a CQC-style scoring system, we have rated the Government's overall progress on its maternity services' targets as 'requires improvement'.