Calls for National inquiry into maternity services
It's after a number of failings - including here in Lancashire
Families who have lost babies, or who have had them harmed, at the hands of the NHS are coming together to call for a full inquiry.
It's after a number of reports into NHS failings - including at Morecambe Bay.
Now, the Maternity Safety Alliance has written to Mr Barclay setting out the case for a national inquiry.
The letter is signed by a number of parents including James Titcombe, whose son Joshua died at Morecambe Bay.
The letter said: "We are writing to you to demand a full statutory public inquiry into maternity safety in England.
"Our babies are too precious to keep on ignoring the reality that, despite a raft of national initiatives and policies implemented in the wake of investigations and reports, systemic issues continue to adversely impact on the care of women and babies.
"Far too much avoidable harm continues to devastate lives in circumstances that could and should be avoided. Fundamental reform is needed.
"Over and over again we hear that 'lessons will be learned' - and yet those same failings continue. And they don't just continue in isolated corners of the NHS, they are present to some degree in almost every NHS trust in England, with the most serious kind of avoidable harm occurring everywhere."
The families argue that only a fully judge-led public inquiry will be "free of party politics". It would also allow a judge to compel witnesses to attend.
Mr Titcombe said there must now be an acceptance that the problems are "not limited to isolated 'unit level' issues but rather reflect systemic problems that exist across the maternity system as a whole".
He added: "Once we accept this as a starting point, it's clear that future inquiries at an individual service level will only ever get us so far - no matter how many we have."
They have launched a petition calling for an inquiry on Change.org.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: "Every parent deserves to feel confident in the care they and their baby receive and we welcome the Care Quality Commission's commitment to monitoring those trusts that are not providing an adequate standard, to ensure improvements are made.
"Nationally, we have invested £165 million a year since 2021 to grow the maternity workforce and improve neonatal services and we are promoting careers in midwifery by increasing training places by up to 3,650 over the past four years.