[ad_1]
More than two-thirds of the Midlands’ 27 maternity wards are rated ‘requires improvement’ or worse.
Not a single unit achieved the highest rating of “outstanding.”
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects the units and produces a report, giving each unit an overall rating from ‘inadequate’ to ‘outstanding’.
The CQC’s deputy chief executive told us: “Some NHS hospital trusts are struggling with the quality of staff training, inadequate risk assessments and failures to address, learn from and listen to women’s needs. We found that issues such as these still have an impact.” We have carefully considered the safety of our services and have made it clear which hospitals need to take action.
“The increased national focus on obstetric safety is welcome and essential for improvement, but as we highlighted in the 2022/23 State of Care Report, the progress needed is still to be made. It has not been seen and current assessments show that there are too many maternity wards, even though there are too many to do.
“Providing safe, high-quality maternity care for all is neither an ambitious nor an unrealistic goal. This is what our staff wants to provide.
“It is unacceptable that obstetric safety is still far from the standards it needs. As a health system, we need to do better for women and babies.”
The Government says ensuring all women have access to safe and compassionate maternity care is a “priority”, with the NHS committing £186m a year to expand the maternity workforce and strengthen its leadership. The company said it is working with the trust to make improvements.
Want expert explanations on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts and find out what you need to know…
[ad_2]
Source link
Leave a Reply