The Leeds units are also currently part of a rapid national review into maternity and neonatal services across England, which was launched in June and is being led by Baroness Valerie Amos.
Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologised to bereaved families and said he hoped the inquiry would provide them with “answers”.
He said: “We are determined to do better. We want to work with the families who have used our services to understand their experiences so that we can make real and lasting improvements.
“I would also like to reassure families in Leeds who will be using our services currently, that we are already taking significant steps to address improvements to our maternity and neonatal services, following reviews by the Care Quality Commission and NHS England.”
Families say serious questions now need answering about what Sir Julian Hartley, the man in charge of the trust for ten years until 2023, knew about poor maternity care.
He’s now in charge of the health care regulator in England, the Care Quality Commission.
In a statement, Sir Julian told the BBC that while he was Chief Executive of Leeds Trust, he was “absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity, but clearly this commitment wasn’t enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss”.
He said he was “truly sorry” for this.
Lauren Caufield whose daughter, Grace Kilburn, died in 2022, and also met Streeting said:
“It is completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date to look into the situations with Sir Julian Hartley. We hope the inquiry will do that.”