'My wife died in childbirth but wasn't told she'd been given labour drug overdose'

Currently, maternity services in Scotland rely heavily on the goodwill of experienced staff to be safe.

Experts say if the UK government had implemented the recommendations of the Morecambe Bay Inquiry, which were “directly relevant to all maternity services in the UK”, then some of the dangerous situations experienced by families in Scotland could have been minimised.

The revelation that NHS Lothian was dealing with a maternity crisis last year on top of the revelation that a neonatal death had gone unreported for six months at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has raised questions about the ability of these health boards to oversee safe maternity care.

Our findings suggest that health boards in Scotland are willing to carry out reviews – but some do not fully inform the people they should about the findings.

It is clear that Scotland has not yet fully learned the lessons from the deaths and harms already identified in the NHS. And there is growing concern that the increasing pressures on maternity services will lead to more failings.