Leeds maternity review, Women vets, The term 'rough wooing'

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.1 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The health secretary Wes Streeting has appointed senior midwife Donna Ockenden to lead a review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The appointment came after a sustained campaign by bereaved and harmed families who said that she was the only one they trusted to lead the review into failings in Leeds. BBC reporter Divya Talwar tells us about breaking the story and Donna Ockenden joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her new appointment as well as her ongoing review into Nottingham university hospitals.

We look at the changing gender split in the veterinary profession, 61% of working vets are women and 80% of recently qualified vets - what's behind the shift? Dr Christianne Glossop is Honorary Professor and Honorary Fellow at the Royal Veterinary College and Wales' first Chief Veterinary Officer, she joins Nuala.

During World War One, women working in munitions factories formed football teams. They would sometimes play in front of thousands of people, until the Football Association banned women's football in 1921, a ban that lasted for 50 years. This is the focus of a play at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre, The Ladies Football club. One of the stars is Ellie Leach, formerly in Coronation Street and who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2023. She joins Nuala alongside director Elizabeth Newman.

Dr Amy Blakeway, Senior Lecturer in 16th Century Scottish History at the University of St Andrews, talks to Nuala about the history of the term 'rough wooing', and why she thinks its time we stopped using it.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Helen Fitzhenry

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts.
0:05.6	Hello, I've just nipped in before your BBC podcast starts to tell you all about
0:09.4	You're Dead to Me. We're the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Also from the BBC
0:13.9	and presented by me, Greg Jenner. I should have told you that at the beginning. Sorry.
0:17.9	Anyway, like many other BBC podcasts, such as Desert Island Discs, Evil Genius, or In Our Time, your dead to me is available first on BBC Sounds,
0:26.3	a whole month earlier than anywhere else, in fact. So if you can't wait another day to hear
0:31.2	the very latest in history and loads of other good stuff, then listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:36.2	Hello, this is Neula McGovern, and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast.
0:41.6	Hello and welcome to the programme.
0:43.7	In a moment, Donna Ockenden, who is now leading an independent inquiry into repeated maternity failures at an NHS trust
0:51.4	after a U-turn by the Health Secretary on her appointment.
0:55.3	Also on Women's Hour today, vets are now mainly women.
0:59.2	60% of the workforce going up to 80% for those who are newly qualified.
1:04.5	So what turned the tide in what was a previously male-dominated profession?
1:08.6	We have Wales's first chief veterinary officer with us this hour.
1:13.5	And I think that we must have some female vets listening. Prove me right. Is it you? Or perhaps it was
1:19.2	your dream job as a girl, whether it happened or not. Why do you think it appeals to so many women
1:25.1	and girls? To get in touch, text the program 84844.
1:29.2	Social media, we're at BBC Woman's Hour,
1:31.4	or you can email us through our website for a WhatsApp message or voice note.
1:35.7	The number is 0-3700-100-400-444.
1:40.0	Also, is it time to change or stop using the phrase rough wooing to describe the Anglo-Scottish wars of the 1540s?
	...

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