The safety and quality of maternity and neonatal services are the responsibility of the board in each NHS Trust. However, board oversight has been highlighted as an issue in successive inquiries and reviews.

We reviewed publicly available board papers and minutes for seven NHS Trusts in England to analyse whether the information presented to boards, the process for review, and actions taken enabled boards to deliver on this responsibility. Our findings across these three areas raise questions about boards’ ability to have a full understanding of the performance of maternity and neonatal units under their direction under the current system.