Hospital must take action

A Kent hospital is under fire from a health watchdog for the second time in three months. In July, the Medway Maritime - in Gillingham - was one of 11 British hospitals placed in special measures because of high patient death rates.

Now the Care Quality Commission has uncovered serious safety issues over its maternity unit. It said too few midwives - and failing to carry out regular checks on medical equipment - was putting mothers and babies at risk.

Sarah Saunders spoke to mother Donna Butler, Adrian Hughes from the Care Quality Commission and Chief nurse Steve Hamms.

The Care Quality Commission says urgent action must be taken to improve the welfare of women using maternity services at Medway Maritime Hospital. The hospital failed to meet any of the six standards checked by the CQC and was found to have too few midwives to properly care for mothers and babies.

We spoke to Rehman Chishti, Conservative MP for Gillingham and Rainham.

The Care Quality Commission has told Medway NHS Foundation Trust that it must take urgent action to improve the safety and welfare of women using maternity and midwifery services at Medway Maritime Hospital.

The hospital watchdog has issued three formal warnings to the Gillingham hospital following an inspection in August.

It had failed to meet any of the six standards of care checked.