‘Outstanding’ maternity unit plunges to ‘inadequate’ after unannounced inspection

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust’s maternity services, located in the Jessop Wing maternity unit, were rated “inadequate” in the safe and well-led domains, and “requires improvement” for being effective. Responsive and caring were not rated in this inspection. 

More than 6,000 babies are born at the trust every year. The CQC inspected a labour ward, two postnatal wards, an antenatal ward, the admission triage areas and the advanced obstetric unit in March, while speaking to 22 members of staff.

The inspection, which was prompted by concerns about the safety and quality of services being provided to women and babies, also led to urgent conditions being imposed on the trust, requiring it to take action and regularly report to the CQC on the progress made.

During its inspection, the CQC found the trust did not always manage patient safety incidents well and there were concerns about “a lack of openness and transparency” within the service.

The regulator added it was not assured midwifery staff or leaders had the skills, knowledge and experience to run the service and it found staff did not always take “timely actions” to minimise risks.

It also raised concerns about midwifery staff shortages, with some areas with fewer staff than is recommended nationally.

In response to this point, the trust said since the inspection three months ago, 30 new midwives had been offered posts and would be joining the Jessop Wing in September.

Among the urgent conditions imposed on STHFT were ensuring adequate numbers of properly trained staff are working in the unit, ensuring correct procedures exist for investigating serious incidents, improving infection control and ensuring safe systems for recording and storing medicines.

However, the CQC also found a number of areas of good practice within Sheffield’s maternity service, such as healthcare professionals working together as a team to benefit families and a culture where staff felt respected, valued and supported.

Last year’s Ockenden Review — an independent inquiry into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust’s maternity services that highlighted a catalogue of failings between 2000 and 2018 — made numerous national and local recommendations. These included strengthening safety and governance measures within maternity services. 

‘Exceptionally disappointed’

Sarah Dronsfield, the CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said: “When we visited maternity services in the Jessop Wing at [STHFT], inspectors found a service that was not providing the standard of care women should be able to expect.”

She added: “Following the inspection, the trust has provided an action plan detailing what they are doing to reduce these risks and we have discussed the first stages of the improvements the trust has taken. We continue to monitor the trust extremely closely and expect them to continue to make rapid improvements.”

STHFT chief executive Kirsten Major said the trust was “exceptionally disappointed” with the CQC’s findings and welcomed the external scrutiny.

“Many of the actions have been completed in the three months since the inspection took place. For example, our governance and risk processes are being overhauled, including how we learn from incidents and respond to data collected nationally and locally,” she said.

“We clearly have some improvements to make but we are encouraged by the feedback from families who use the service, which is very positive and reflects the commitment of our staff to provide good care and more often than not go above and beyond what is required of them,” she added.

Chris Morley, the trust’s chief nurse, urged women or their partners who have concerns following the inspection to “not hesitate to contact us and the team will be happy to provide assurance”.