Maternity Matters: Home births and births ‘outside of guidance’ - claims and inquests update

Join Weightmans on 14 July 2026 for our webinar Maternity Matters: Home births and births ‘outside of guidance’ - claims and inquests update.

We are delighted to be joined by a safety and learning colleague from NHS Resolution, who will speak about informed consent and maternity care ‘outside of guidance’, together with Nichola Lennon, healthcare regulatory partner, and Alison Brennan, legal director in our healthcare claims team.

Whilst home births can offer a range of benefits, they are usually only recommended for pregnancies that are considered low risk, but even then, unforeseen complications can arise which can have devastating consequences for babies, mothers and families, as well as for the NHS staff involved.

The focus of health policy and regulatory scrutiny in England therefore rightly remains on safe delivery of maternity services.

This webinar will explore the relevant legal and regulatory issues in relation to claims and inquests for NHS trusts who are supporting requests for home births and birthing ‘outside of guidance,’ including:

• why mothers might choose to birth ‘outside of guidance’, appropriate advice and associated patient safety challenges.
• key issues to consider in claims involving home births and births ‘outside of guidance.’
• how legal, regulatory and governance frameworks are evolving in parallel and the role of coroners’ prevention of future death reports from inquests in learning from obstetric patient safety incidents.

The webinar will be of interest to medical professionals delivering maternity services in the NHS as well as directors, department heads, claims managers and others in legal services at trusts who deal with maternity claims.