The UK government set out immediate patient safety, safeguarding and accountability measures across the NHS after the publication of Lady Justice Thirlwall's final report into the Countess of Chester Hospital, according to a Department of Health and Social Care press release dated 15 September 2026. The inquiry found serious failures of governance, leadership and safeguarding, with missed opportunities to act on concerns.

Health and Social Care Secretary Yvette Cooper told Parliament the government had begun work on several measures while considering the recommendations in full. These include urgent work on plans for CCTV, including "cot cams", in neonatal settings; new guidance on the safe use and storage of insulin; strengthened guidance for medical examiners reviewing neonatal deaths; and plans to regulate NHS managers through a barring scheme for senior leaders who fail in their responsibilities. The release also cited continued rollout of the National Bereavement Care Pathway, with all NHS trusts signed up to implement it, and a single tracker to monitor delivery of recommendations from major maternity and neonatal reviews and inquiries.

Cooper also announced that safeguarding would be placed at the centre of the forthcoming Babies, Children and Young People's Modern Service Framework. The release said she chaired her first meeting as Chair of the Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce that afternoon. The taskforce is to translate recommendations from the Ockenden and Amos reviews into an action plan for transforming care, to be published in 2026. The government said it would publish its full response once detailed consideration of the report is complete.