Major Birmingham hospital's maternity services must 'rapidly improve' says health watchdog
The maternity services at City Hospital have been rated as "requires improvement" after an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
It was investigated in June after concerns had been raised by whistle-blowers about poor culture, staff shortages, long waits to be induced and a lack of thorough investigation of serious incidents.
The maternity service was rated "inadequate" for safety, and its rating for both quality leadership and safety has dropped from "good" to "requires improvement".
The hospital, part of Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, overall, has previously been rated as "requires improvement."
The CQC said the Trust should focus its attention on making "significant improvements around the environment, equipment, safeguarding, use of interpreters and staffing."
Charlotte Rudge, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: "We found leaders needed to rapidly improve a number of areas to make care safer for women, people using the service and their babies."
She highlighted staffing as "a significant problem", before adding that staff were not always appropriately trained.
Staff reported they didn't always have time to carry out safeguarding procedures.
One positive area they highlighted was the hospital staff's work to support equality, diversity and inclusion.
Ms Rudge said they found: "staff used flashcards to communicate with people who were deaf or had a learning disability, and they were also trying to produce handy guides when caring for people living with anxiety, deafness, blindness, and those who identified as trans or non-binary to help with communication concerns."
She added: "Since the inspection, they’ve produced an action plan to address our concerns and have completed all actions.
"We’ll be monitoring this service closely, including through further inspections, to make sure people receive safe care while these improvements are implemented."
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