Six of the eight Section 31 notices the trust received following an inspection in August 2023 have been removed with UHDB having applying to remove the other two.

Sarah Noble, director of midwifery at UHDB, said: ‘Our maternity teams have been working hard to improve the quality of care and experience for women and babies, and this milestone recognises the progress we have made so far.

‘While we know from our own safety data and from our engagement with women and families that we have made improvements, we are not complacent and are absolutely committed to continuing this work at pace.'

UHDB said its perinatal mortality rate (which includes stillborn babies and neonatal deaths) had consistently been below the national average for over 12 months.

In addition, compliance against Saving Babies Lives, an evidence based national maternity safety ambition, has improved from 33% in September 2023 to 86% in June 2025.

The trust said it had also aligned to national best practice standards for maternity care in areas, including: managing blood loss after birth, triaging women during pregnancy and monitoring babies heartrates during labour and birth.

UHDB said training compliance in a number of areas had also improved to above national targets and it remained the only trust to have proactively asked to join the national NHS England Maternity Safety Support programme.  

The CQC has been asked to comment.