ENGLAND — James Murray, the health secretary, announced the appointment of the UK's first commissioner for maternity and neonatal care. This role was created in response to a government-commissioned inquiry into maternity care led by Valerie Amos.

The new commissioner will pursue hospitals over persistent failures in care and co-chair the government's national maternity and neonatal taskforce alongside the health secretary. Donna Ockenden is widely expected to become the new commissioner.

Amos authored a 181-page report on her nine-month investigation into maternity care. The report made eight key recommendations to improve maternity outcomes.

The report stated that some maternity units are unsafe due to their age and identified widespread understaffing as compromising the quality of care. It also stated that women of color have experienced racism or discrimination, leading to unfair or unequal treatment.

The maternity and neonatal system in England is no longer fit to consistently deliver high-quality, compassionate care to every woman and family, and requires urgent reform to put safety at its centre, embed a focus on listening to women and ensure anti-racist practice at every level. I still find it shocking that women and babies have been harmed or have died, sometimes as a result of failings in the maternity and neonatal care provided.

One of Amos's recommendations is an urgent overhaul of maternity triage services, which would include more staff to ensure women's concerns are acted on more quickly. Another recommendation is to give families the right to seek independent investigations when they are not satisfied with a hospital's own inquiry.

Dr Bill Kirkup, a clinical adviser to the inquiry, resigned on Monday, hours before the report's publication. Kirkup's resignation was due to a disagreement over the report's section on normal birth ideology.

The national maternity and neonatal taskforce is preparing an action plan to improve care, which is due in December. Murray stated, Appointing the UK's first ever maternity and neonatal commissioners will drive lasting change and make sure women and families are never ignored again.