In its latest inspection, the Care Quality Commission yet again rates maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust as “requires improvement”.
Challenges for maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust continue as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) again rates them not up to scratch.
The CQC inspected maternity services at Nottingham City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre and said they “require improvement”. At this inspection, CQC identified three breaches of regulation at both hospitals related to security, staffing and management of the service. CQC told the trust to submit an action plan showing what action it is taking in response to these concerns.
“The service didn’t have an appropriate system and process to check identification bands of both baby and mother if separated for treatment, which created risks for families and raised safeguarding concerns,” said Roger James, CQC director of hospitals.
“It was disappointing that leaders didn’t ensure there were enough medical staff with the right qualifications, skills, and experience to keep people safe. This needed to be addressed urgently, and leaders also needed to make sure all staff were up to date with relevant training,” he continued.
The Trust acknowledged the issues highlighted by the report.
“Since the inspection report, we have created additional ways for staff to give feedback and discuss learning,” said chief executive Anthony May.
“Our midwifery staffing position has improved, and we have committed to increase obstetrician staffing over establishment. We have reviewed our security policies in response to the feedback and have completed safety drills at both sites to test our abduction policy.”
Long-standing concerns
The latest report continues issues that have dominated maternity services at the Trust for many years.
An ongoing independent review into maternity failings at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust was led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden. The Ockenden Review was then the largest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS. It closed to new cases at the end of May last year.
It began in September 2022 and is examining 2,297 cases of harm to babies and women, including stillbirths, neonatal deaths, significant brain injuries to babies, severe maternal harm and maternal deaths. The bulk of these cases date from 2012 onwards.
As Healthcare Today reported in February last year, the Trust was fined £1.6 million following sentencing for the prosecutions of the deaths of three babies, Adele O’Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson and Quinn Parker in 2021.
It pleaded guilty to charges of failure to provide safe maternity care and treatment resulting in a significant risk of avoidable harm and, in one case, actual avoidable harm brought by the CQC. The decision to close the review to new cases was driven by the need to finalise the report by June this year.
Ockenden herself has just been appointed to chair the independent review into University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. The independent review follows concerns raised by harmed and bereaved families about the safety of care provided at the trust.
