The regulator has placed conditions on the training in obstetrics and gynaecology at North Manchester General Hospital.
The General Medical Council (GMC) has placed conditions on the training in obstetrics and gynaecology at North Manchester General Hospital to ensure training standards are met and patient safety is maintained.
The regulator has applied the conditions to address concerns that GMC standards are not being met, including failing to demonstrate a culture that investigates and learns from mistakes, despite previous warnings. A process called enhanced monitoring is the way the GMC ensures organisations address serious concerns about training.
As Healthcare Today reported in February, the highest number of claims of medical negligence involving children’s care across NHS Trusts in England since 2019 have been settled by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. It has had to pay out £76.8 million to settle 104 legal claims of child medical negligence lodged against it in the past five years.
Since 2019, it has had 223 claims and incidents of clinical neglect involving children’s care reported to the NHS legal body.
North Manchester General Hospital is part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
“Despite ongoing work with the Trust for nearly three years, it is still not meeting the standards required, which need to be addressed as a priority. There are also concerns about the Trust’s ability to meet our standards in relation to educational governance and the handover of patient care within the department,” said Colin Melville, medical director and director for education and standards at the GMC.
Failures in maternity services
Training in obstetrics and gynaecology at the hospital, which is part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, has been subject to enhanced monitoring since November 2022 and the GMC says that satisfactory progress has not been made.
If these concerns are not fully addressed the GMC can then place conditions on its approval of a training programme.
Ultimately, if conditions are not met, then trainees can be removed from the site.
“NHS England – North West will work closely with the trust to provide evidence to the GMC that conditions are being met and we will be speaking with doctors in training in obstetrics and gynaecology to ensure progress is made,” said Melville.
The GMC receives information about training from various sources, including its annual
Conditions will be regularly reviewed by NHS England – North West and the GMC.
Both the number and severity of cases of failures in maternity services have been significant this year. Families have called for an inquiry into the standard of maternity services in Leeds after at least 56 cases of stillbirths or neonatal deaths as well as two maternity deaths between January 2019 and July 2024; Nottingham NHS Trust was fined £1.6 million for baby deaths in February; and both Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital maternity unit and Royal Lancaster Infirmary have faced criticism for gross failure of basic medical care.
