Leeds hospitals apologise after maternity Facebook post sparks backlash from bereaved parents

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) has apologised after a Facebook post praising maternity care sparked a backlash from bereaved parents who said concerns surrounding the Trust’s maternity services had been reduced to “negativity”.

The post, shared on the Leeds Maternity E-Midwife Facebook page, featured a mother’s account of the birth of her son at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) earlier this year.

While praising the staff involved in her care, the post stated: “There is a lot of negativity around the Trust at the moment, so I really wanted to share how truly positive and empowering I found my birth at the LGI.”

The wording prompted criticism from families who have been campaigning for accountability over maternity services in Leeds, with many arguing that serious concerns raised by bereaved and harmed families should not be characterised as “negativity”.

The post was later removed and replaced with an apology from the Trust.

In a joint statement, a group of bereaved parents from Leeds said it was “beyond disrespectful and insulting” for concerns surrounding maternity services to be described in such terms.

They said: “For this post to have been authorised and published by the management of LTHT, reducing our devastating grief, trauma and horrific injuries to be referred to simply as ‘negativity’, was beyond disrespectful and insulting to the hundreds, if not thousands, of women, children and families.

“That specific part of the parent’s comment did not need to be posted, and the hospital knew exactly what they were doing when they posted it.”

The parents argued that concerns raised by families were an essential part of improving patient safety and ensuring accountability.

They added: “Given the current climate and the very serious situation with LTHT maternity and neonatal services, now subject to a Government-appointed independent review chaired by Donna Ockenden, it is wholly unacceptable for posts like this to be made, or to continue to be made, by the Trust.”

The group also criticised the Trust’s decision to disable comments on its apology post, describing it as “totally disingenuous” and alleging it was an attempt to “silence victims”.

Responding to the controversy, Brendan Brown, Chief Executive of LTHT, apologised for the distress caused.

He said: “I am truly sorry for the distress we caused families with the recent post on our Leeds Maternity E-Midwife Facebook page. We were wrong to publish this post as it appeared, and in response to the feedback, we removed it to avoid further upset.

“It was never our intention to cause additional pain to harmed and bereaved families, and we are reviewing how we share content on this page in the future.

“We published an apology on the page and disabled comments on this post. I am sorry if this was not the right thing to do; we were concerned that any further comments could cause more distress to harmed and bereaved families and people using our maternity services.

“We are listening to feedback from all families and fully accept that we need to improve our services. We are making progress with a comprehensive improvement plan and will work openly and honestly with the independent review team when their review begins later this year.”

The controversy comes ahead of the independent review of maternity and neonatal services at Leeds hospitals, led by maternity expert and senior midwife Donna Ockenden.

The review was commissioned following years of concerns raised by families about maternity care in Leeds and is expected to begin in August 2026.