Scandal-hit child loss of life hospital belief ex-chief’s agency raked in THOUSANDS offering NHS maternity coaching

The ex-boss of a scandal-hit health trust exposed over baby deaths co-owns a firm which raked in cash giving maternity training to the NHS.

A senior midwife’s inquiry into Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust found 520 mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or death due to poor care. Now it can be revealed former long-serving CEO Peter Homa is director of a company paid nearly £100,000 for maternity training provided to another Trust.

And we can disclose Dr Homa, who joined the NHS in 1979, racked up a pension pot worth more than £2million before retiring in 2017. Unveiling her landmark review, which covered the experiences of families mostly from 2012 to 2025, Donna Ockenden said in June: “This report is about what happens when leadership fails.”

The Lib Dems’ Health and Social Care Spokesperson Helen Morgan MP said: “It is frankly shocking that a firm now co-owned by someone who presided over such catastrophic failures in maternity care has been handed cash to deliver maternity governance training to the NHS.

“The Ockenden review laid bare the horrific trauma suffered by mothers and babies at Nottingham University Hospitals, alongside a culture where staff concerns were ignored and systemic failures were hidden. The public will rightly question how NHS trusts can justify using public funds in this manner.”

Sarah and Jack Hawkins, awarded a £2.8m settlement after their daughter Harriet died in the womb following maternity staff mistakes at Nottingham City Hospital in 2016, said: “Peter Homa was CEO when so much death and harm occurred at NUH as shown by the Ockenden review and by so many brave families who have told what happened to them…

“We are very confused to hear he is selling leadership development. To us, it doesn’t seem right that someone with his track record should be running a company paid large sums of money to offer leadership training to the NHS or anybody, frankly.”

And Sarah and Gary Andrews, whose daughter Wynter died 23 minutes after being born in 2019 at the Trust’s Queen’s Medical Centre following care failings, said: “It is… difficult for us to understand how his private firm can now provide leadership training to the NHS. We know from the Ockenden Review that there were serious concerns about leadership, culture and the failure to keep women and babies safe during his tenure.

“We are not saying that one individual was responsible for every failure identified by Ockenden, but we believe it is entirely legitimate for families to question whether someone who led the organisation during such a troubled period is well placed to provide leadership training to future NHS leaders.

“For us, leadership is not simply about management theory or training courses. We know the consequences when leadership and culture fail. We are living those consequences. We have lost babies, our children have been harmed and our lives have been permanently changed. It therefore does not sit comfortably with us that someone who was at the helm during a period in which such serious failures occurred can now be paid substantial sums from public money to help shape the leadership of the NHS.”

Dr Homa has been director and co-owner of Acorn Leadership Development since 2024. The firm’s website, which carries his picture, boasts its “focus is on helping you develop and nurture the leaders you need to navigate the challenges you face”. University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire Trust paid the firm £45,372 in September last year for nursing training, transparency data showed.

In March last year, Acorn was also paid £98,250 for “training course fees/exps” relating to “maternity governance”, according to Northampton General Hospital spending data. And, the same month, the spending data shows it was handed £28,600 for “training course fees/exps” relating to “clinical placement”.

In a case study section of Acorn’s website, the firm details its work for an NHS Hospital leadership team. It says: “Our client was experiencing ongoing challenges with ED [emergency department] access and waiting times, as well as patient experience and quality of care… We were asked to deliver a leadership development programme to help these newly established teams build trusted relationships and a shared leadership purpose.”

By April 2016, the cash equivalent of Dr Homa’s pension was £2,066,000, NUH accounts showed. The one-time hospital porter spent the majority of his career working in the NHS.

Dr Homa’s Facebook profile showed he has a taste for adventure, with a photo of him thrusting his fist in the air on a bridge climb in Sydney, Australia. In another snap, the 69-year-old, who lives in Leicestershire, posed in an apron in the kitchen. “I’m the cook at home and find it therapeutic,” he wrote in a comment in 2014.

After leaving Nottingham, he had a stint as chair of NHS Leadership Academy. Dr Homa, who says he wanted to be a pilot but could not because of sight loss in one eye, once wrote a letter to his younger self. “You will face many leadership challenges and how you respond creates your personal brand and legacy,” he said.

And he said: “You will get things wrong and fail. Failure is another way to learn…Be a leader in openness. Acknowledge failure, when it occurs, and do what needs to be done to prevent repetition… In the words of philosophers, Friedrich Nietzsche and Kelly Clarkson, ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger…’”

Dr Homa was also director general of the Defence Medical Services, which cares for armed forces personnel, from 2019 to 2023. Ms Ockenden’s review, the largest maternity inquiry in NHS history, published devastating findings.

The inquiry found leaders at the Trust knew there were serious issues in the maternity department going back years – yet failed to take action to stop more deaths. Over 2,000 families and more than 800 members of staff past and present contributed to the inquiry, with the Trust already paying out millions in compensation and fines after being prosecuted for poor care.

The University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN) Group Managing Director and Chief Nurse Julie Hogg said: “We can confirm that multi-professional members of our team have undertaken leadership development training delivered by Acorn. We are satisfied that the programme was delivered to the required standards and has supported the ongoing professional development of our staff.” Dr Homa “delivered a virtual leadership talk of around one hour”, with different sessions “facilitated by others”, a spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust said: “Experienced trainers from Acorn Leadership Development were used to train our senior perinatal team. Independent evaluation of the programme has been positive, and this investment forms part of our wider focus on maintaining safe, high-quality services.” Dr Homa did not personally deliver leadership training at the Trust, a spokesperson said. However, they added that he attended “one session focused on the importance of speaking up and escalating concerns but was not paid for this”.

NUH’s chief nurse Tracy Pilcher said: “We recognise the importance of the Independent Maternity Review and fully accept the failings outlined by Donna Ockenden, for which we are truly sorry. We remain committed to implementing all immediate and essential actions to support the improvement of our services. We continue to work closing [sic] with the harmed and bereaved families and Donna Ockenden to ensure we have learned all lessons from the review.”

Dr Homa is understood to have limited day-to-day involvement with Acorn, from which has received £2,000 in dividends. The ex-CEO, who has faced a call to be stripped of his CBE, has admitted families were let down but said he did not recognise some of the Ockenden report findings on an executive level culture of fear.

Last month, he told the Sunday Times of his “profound sadness on reading the findings of the review”, adding: “The families directly and indirectly affected by the service failings at NUH have my deepest, most sincere apologies.” Dr Homa and Acorn were contacted for comment.