The two whistleblowers have described unsafe care while working at both of the units.

One experienced clinical staff member, currently at Leeds and who has asked to remain anonymous, told us the service is “completely broken” with chronic understaffing, with the impact being that “women and babies are not getting the care we want them to get”.

These concerns are echoed by a former temporary staff member, Lisa Elliott, who says she saw “chaotic” care when she worked approximately 40 shifts as a maternity support worker during 2023. While in this role, supporting midwives in their care of women, she says she witnessed “rude” treatment of patients by staff who showed a lack of empathy.

Lisa, who says she began working shifts in the hospitals in 2020, says she was present for a CQC inspection in 2024, but does not think maternity services should be rated “good”. She says she flagged concerns about staff attitudes at the time, but they were not “taken into account properly”.

Prof Phil Wood, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals told the BBC the trust wished to apologise to the women and families who had shared their negative experiences.

He highlighted its status as a specialist centre caring for “the most poorly babies”, adding that comparing the MBBRACE-UK neonatal mortality data from LTH with other hospitals, “even in the same specialist category, is fraught with difficulty and is misleading”.

Chris Dzikiti, CQC’s interim chief inspector of healthcare, said LTH’s maternity services have, and continue to be, subject to close oversight.

He added that the maternity services at the two hospitals were inspected last month “in response to concerns raised by families and risks identified through our ongoing monitoring”.

The findings from that inspection will be published shortly.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government was determined to learn lessons from recent investigations to ensure women and babies “receive safe, personalised and compassionate care”.

They added: “We will support trusts failing on maternity care to make rapid improvements and work closely with NHS England to train thousands more midwives to support women throughout their pregnancy and beyond.”