About the Independent Oversight Panel

The Independent Oversight Panel is:

Professor Sally Holland (Chair)

Sally is a leading social care academic, with expertise in child and family welfare, child protection, public involvement and equality, diversity and inclusion. From 2015 to 2022 she was Children’s Commissioner for Wales. She was the founding Director of the CASCADE Children’s Social Care Research Centre in Cardiff University, which is now the largest centre of its kind in the UK . She is a registered social worker and in her early career worked in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Heidi Smoult (Member)

Heidi has expertise in quality review, incident investigations, regulatory matters to drive improvements in healthcare, safety, improvement and leadership development. She was Chief Executive at Northampton General Hospital NHS and prior to that was Deputy Chief Inspector at the Care Quality Commission (CQC) where she was accountable for the effective regulation of the NHS and independent healthcare providers. Heidi has a wealth of health and care experience preceding this, beginning her career as a midwife before moving into operational roles. 

Sue Holden (Member)

Sue is chair of Advancing Quality Alliance (Aqua), having previously been its Chief Executive Officer. Prior to this, she was the National Director for Intensive Support at NHS England and NHS Improvement and has occupied several national improvement leadership roles in her NHS career and brings an energy and drive for continuous improvement. She trained as a nurse and then midwife and worked clinically for over 15 years before developing her interest in operational development and learning.  

Dr Edile Murdoch (Member)

Edile is a consultant neonatologist of 25 years in NHS Lothian Edinburgh and previously Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge. She has been a clinical director of obstetric and neonatal services in NHS England and Scotland and a neonatal network lead. She is one of the national specialty advisors for NHSE maternity and neonatal programme and clinical lead for the maternity outcome signal system programme.  She chaired the Scottish perinatal network adverse event review group and co-chaired the BAPM perinatal palliative care working group. She is a communications tutor and is a trained mediator. 

Ken Sutton (Member)

Ken has held senior roles at the Home Office including as a Director for Crime and Policing. He served as Secretary to the Hillsborough Independent Panel and was Secretary to the Independent Investigation into Maternity and Neonatal Services in East Kent. He was an adviser to an independent Review of forensic pathology.

Dr Jo Mountfield (Member)

Jo has recently retired having been a consultant Obstetrician for over 20 years. She was Director of Education within University Hospital Southampton since 2006. She is a past chair of the specialty education advisory committee at the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists.  She was a Health Foundation Leadership Fellow and past Vice President at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 

Professor Mary Renfrew (Member)

Now retired, Mary is a leading health researcher, with a clinical background in midwifery. She has spent over 40 years researching infant feeding, nutrition, midwifery and maternity care, influencing policy, practice and public understanding across the UK and internationally. She has advised government departments and global organisations including the WHO and UNICEF and was the Lead Advisor for The Nursing and Midwifery Council for the standards of proficiency for midwives. She recently led the Independent Report on midwifery and wider maternity services in Northern Ireland.