Western Daily Press (Saturday)

Maternity services under fire

SOMERSET’S maternity services have been criticised by health inspectors for having too few staff and not enough equipment to look after mothers and their newborn babies.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out inspection­s in November last year of maternity units at three major Somerset hospitals: Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Yeovil Hospital and the

Mary Stanley unit at Bridgwater Community Hospital.

The inspectors have told the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs all three, to make massive improvemen­ts to protect patients, with both Musgrove and Yeovil’s provision being rated “inadequate”.

The trust said yesterday that it had made significan­t improvemen­ts since the inspection­s were carried out and that further enhancemen­ts would be carried out in the coming months.

Deputy director of secondary and specialist care Carolyn Jenkinson said: “When we inspected maternity services at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, we found a deteriorat­ion in the quality of care being provided across maternity services at all three of the locations they provide them from.

“We also had particular­ly significan­t concerns with the care being provided at Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil Hospital.

“We have told the trust where we expect to see significan­t improvemen­ts and will continue to monitor them closely while these improvemen­ts are made.

“We will return to check on their progress and won’t hesitate to take action if women, people using the service and their babies are not receiving the care they have a right to expect.”

At Musgrove Park Hospital, inspectors found staff weren’t always completing mandatory training or meeting the trust’s targets for training, and leaders lacked good management of this issue.

Gaps included training to manage when unborn babies had reduced movements, managing when unborn babies had growth restrictio­ns, and safeguardi­ng training to identify and protect people from abuse

The service did not control infection risk well and the environmen­t was unsuitable; for instance, inspectors found single use emergency equipment out of its packaging and medical equipment that was out of date and coated in dust

There was a lack of emergency equipment across the service, including not enough equipment to resuscitat­e babies in an emergency. Inspectors also found one of their resuscitat­ion machines for babies was unusable

There was not always enough midwifery staff to keep people safe

Fridge temperatur­es were not always monitored, and the contents were not always checked, with inspectors finding expired breast milk in one fridge. The trust said it was aware of issues with the current fridges and freezers, but there was no mitigation plan in place before they could replace them

The inspectors did find, however, that the service “engaged well with the local community to make improvemen­ts and plan services”, and that “staff had a positive work culture and were committed to improving the service”.

At Yeovil Hospital there was not enough emergency equipment to safely care for babies, though this was swiftly rectified following the inspection.

The service did not always control infection risk well. Not all staff adhered to hand hygiene principles when entering clinical areas before administer­ing care, and audits were not used to monitor hand hygiene and cleaning at the service

The service did not always have enough medical staff, such as consultant­s, to keep people safe.

However, the CQC did note that “staff worked well together as a team” to cover areas where women and people using the service needed support, and that the service “engaged well with the local community to make improvemen­ts and plan services”.

At Bridgwater Community Hospital leaders were not monitoring waiting times to ensure people could access emergency services when needed and if they received treatment within national targets

Equipment was not always maintained safely; for instance, much of the electrical equipment was overdue safety tests.

Peter Lewis, chief executive of the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, has issued a formal apology following the reports and has promised patients that everything possible would be done to improve the services.

He said: “These reports illustrate that we have fallen short of the standards we expected to be delivering, and we want to say sorry to our families that use these services and to our hard-working colleagues.

“We are committed to improve, so that we provide an excellent service that supports women, birthing people and families in Somerset. We have made significan­t changes since the inspection and will continue to do so.”