Scandal-hit baby death hospital trust ex-chief's firm raked in THOUSANDS providing NHS maternity training

The ex-boss of a scandal-hit health trust exposed over baby deaths co-owns a firm which raked in cash giving maternity training to the NHS .

A senior midwife’s inquiry into Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust found 520 mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or death due to poor care. Now it can be revealed former long-serving CEO Peter Homa is director of a company paid nearly £100,000 for maternity training provided to another Trust.

And we can disclose Dr Homa, who joined the NHS in 1979, racked up a pension pot worth more than £2million before retiring in 2017. Unveiling her landmark review, which covered the experiences of families mostly from 2012 to 2025, Donna Ockenden said in June: “This report is about what happens when leadership fails.”

The Lib Dems ’ Health and Social Care Spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: “It is frankly shocking that a firm now co-owned by someone who presided over such catastrophic failures in maternity care has been handed cash to deliver maternity governance training to the NHS.

“The Ockenden review laid bare the horrific trauma suffered by mothers and babies at Nottingham University Hospitals, alongside a culture where staff concerns were ignored and systemic failures were hidden. The public will rightly question how NHS trusts can justify using public funds in this manner.”

Sarah and Jack Hawkins, awarded a £2.8m settlement after their daughter Harriet died in the womb following maternity staff mistakes at Nottingham City Hospital in 2016, said: “Peter Homa was CEO when so much death and harm occurred at NUH as shown by the Ockenden review and by so many brave families who have told what happened to them…

“We are very confused to hear he is selling leadership development. To us, it doesn’t seem right that someone with his track record should be running a company paid large sums of money to offer leadership training to the NHS or anybody, frankly.”

And Sarah and Gary Andrews, whose daughter Wynter died 23 minutes after being born in 2019 at the Trust’s Queen’s Medical Centre following care failings, said: “It is… difficult for us to understand how his private firm can now provide leadership training to the NHS. We know from the Ockenden Review that there were serious concerns about leadership, culture and the failure to keep women and babies safe during his tenure.

“We are not saying that one individual was responsible for every failure identified by Ockenden, but we believe it is entirely legitimate for families to question whether someone who led the organisation during such a troubled period is well placed to provide leadership training to future NHS leaders.

“For us, leadership is not simply about management theory or training courses. We know the consequences when leadership and culture fail. We are living those consequences. We have lost babies, our children have been harmed and our lives have been permanently changed.