Hospital trust at centre of maternity care scandal criticised
Health inspectors have criticised a hospital trust at the centre of a maternity care scandal in a new report.
The Care Quality Commission rated services at Shrewsbury and TelfordHospital NHS Trust (SaTH) as "inadequate" in findings published today.
The trust, which runs Shropshire's two main hospitals, Telford's Princess Royal and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, was placed into special measures earlier in November. It came in the midst of a review of more than a hundred cases of alleged poor maternity care.
The CQC's report says inspectors are "particularly concerned" about thetrust's emergency department and maternity services.
An inspection carried out between August 21st and September 21st rated the trust as inadequate overall, having previously been rated in the "requires improvement" category.
Overall, the trust's performance was rated inadequate for whether its services are safe and well-led, "requires improvement" for the efficacy and responsiveness of services, and "good" for whether its services are caring. This includes improving midwifery staffing levels and taking into account the findings of a review of maternity services by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
The trust has been told to also improve how it escalates cases of women at high risk at the midwifery-led unit or day assessment unit, as well as review its policy on reduced foetal movements for midwives and sonographers.
Other required improvements:
the maintenance of safe environments
speeding up complaints handling
the secure storage of medicines and records
the administering of antibiotics for patients with suspected sepsis
Trust Chief Executive Simon Wright has apologised for its lack of progress, urging people "not to lose sight" of things it does well.
The CQC said inspectors had found some examples of "outstandingpractice" in the trust's end-of-life, maternity and critical care services. The trust said some of the CQC concerns had been addressed.