Maternity services at two Devon hospitals 'require improvement'
Maternity services at two hospitals in Devon need to make improvements to the way care is provided, inspectors say.
The Care Quality Commission has rated maternity services at Royal Devon & Exeter (RD&E) Hospital and North Devon District Hospital (NDDH) as 'requires improvement,' following inspections in November.
The hospitals, run by Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, were inspected as part of CQC’s national maternity services inspection programme.
Overall, maternity services at NDDH were re-rated as 'requires improvement'.
The rating for how well-led they are was downgraded from 'good' to 'requires improvement', while they were re-rated as "'requires improvement' for how safe they are.
It was the first time maternity services at RDE were rated as a standalone core service. Previously, maternity and gynaecology services were inspected and rated together.
The trust which runs both hospitals said it was "disappointed" with the report, and is working to address the findings.
At Royal Devon & Exeter (RD&E) Hospital, watchdog inspectors found:
Issues with midwifery staff levels including high sickness rates
Leaders didn’t have good systems to manage issues and risks
Staff hadn’t completed all mandatory role-specific training or safeguarding
Medicines were not always stored or managed safely
There was no recent drill exercise for baby abductions
Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist care said inspectors found staff "doing their best to provide good care in a challenging environment" but "incidents and risks were being missed."
She added staffing levels at the RD&E "didn't always keep people safe" and identified several incidents which meant people using the service were at risk of harm.
At North Devon District Hospital (NDDH), watchdog inspectors found:
Issues with midwifery staff levels and the number of staff didn’t always match planned numbers
Leaders didn’t have good systems to manage issues and risks
Medicines were not always stored or managed effectively
Records were unclear around whether the service had followed duty of candour when they needed to
There was no recent drill exercise for baby abductions
Ms Jenkinson said inspectors identified specific concerns with the NDDH around triage, incident reporting and how leaders were auditing the service, which meant it "relied on individual clinical judgement."
She added record keeping was "poor" at the NDDH and "details were missing" on incident reports which put people at risk of harm.
The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said it was "disappointed" with the findings.
Sam Higginson, Chief Executive Officer, said: “As a learning organisation, we use all feedback as an opportunity to improve our services and work is already underway to address the findings in the report.
“We are of course disappointed with the outcome, however we feel the reports provide a constructive and comprehensive sense of the areas we must target for improvement to ensure we meet the needs of women and birthing people and their babies in North and East Devon.”
She added: “We are pleased that a number of strengths have shone through and we will build on these as we work together with our colleagues, patients and partners to improve our services.