Families' experiences of care on Mulberry Ward at Whipps Cross

This visit was part of a longer piece of work. We first visited Mulberry Ward in 2024, when families and staff raised concerns about communication, night-time staffing and cultural sensitivity. We returned in February 2026, after the ward's full refurbishment, to see what had changed. During the evening visit, we spoke with 13 people; five couples and three fathers.

There was real progress to recognise. The refurbishment was warmly welcomed by families and staff alike, with the privacy of single rooms and a calmer, better-organised ward noted positively.

But families also shared concerns that matter for safety, dignity and trust. Call bell response times were a consistent worry, particularly at night. The standard of care was often described as varying from shift to shift. Two families raised concerns about how their baby's wellbeing was monitored and how clinical information was communicated. Some families felt that, at deeply distressing moments, responsibility for difficulties was placed on them. As one family put it, "We felt blamed and judged at what was an already distressing time." Families from minority ethnic backgrounds described additional barriers to being heard. Families also raised more practical issues, from bed linen not being changed to a lack of food and seating for partners staying on the ward.

These concerns echo the findings of major national maternity investigations, including the Baroness Amos investigation, the Thirlwall Inquiry and the Ockenden Review, which is why local insight like this matters so much.

We shared our findings with Barts Health NHS Trust, who promptly escalated the urgent concerns and have already begun acting on our recommendations, from recruiting additional staff and improving night-time oversight, to strengthening interpreting support and improving partner facilities. The Trust's full response is included in the report. We appreciate their openness and transparency, and we look forward to working with them on a co-produced action plan so that these improvements are sustained.

If you have given birth or received maternity care at Whipps Cross, we would like to hear about your experience — whether it was positive, difficult, or somewhere in between. 

This report sits alongside our recent statement on the national maternity investigation.