A profoundly moving and inspiring recent episode of Lauren Laverne’s BBC Desert Island Discs features our student Donna Ockenden.

Donna is a former clinical midwife who led the Ockenden Review which revealed, at the time, the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history. In 2022 she was appointed chair of the independent review into maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust which will be published next year. It is already the largest investigation into a single service in the NHS, hearing evidence from over 2,000 families so far.Behind the scenes, Donna has lived a varied and at times incredibly challenging life. She shares with Lauren how she’s overcome these experiences to become the person she is today, supporting families in some of their darkest times.

She credits her Vedic Meditation practice with a transformation in the way she looks after herself:

“Psychologically I start each day with a wholeness and a peace which makes me glad to be alive. I’m then able to go and give what I need to give to families.”

Listen to the episode here.