Harrogate maternity services receive upgraded rating from healthcare regulator
CQC rates maternity services ‘good overall’ following 2025 inspection
Harrogate District Hospital’s maternity services have been rated ‘good overall’ in a new report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), marking an improvement from their previous inspection result of ‘requires improvement’ in 2022.
The report, which assessed Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust’s (HDFT) maternity service against the CQC’s Single Assessment Framework, granted ‘good’ ratings across all five key areas: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well‑Led.
Key areas of improvement
During the July 2025 inspection, the CQC highlighted several areas of good practice within the maternity team. These included:
Women reported feeling listened to and encouraged to participate in tailored birth plans
A proactive culture of openness and honesty around patient safety
Improved staff satisfaction, with 85% recommending HDFT as a workplace compared to 56% in 2022
Availability of specialist midwives who provide strong support across the service
Thorough investigation of safety events, sharing of lessons learned, and actions implemented to prevent issues in the future
Enhanced staff appraisal rates and higher levels of training to improve safety
Investing in continued improvement
Since the inspection, HDFT says it has taken steps to address CQC recommendations and further strengthen its maternity service. These include:
Increasing staffing and oversight at the Maternity Assessment Centre
Introducing new electronic systems for recording patient observations, including MEOWS and NEWTT2 via Nervecentre EPR
Upgrading furniture and equipment to replace worn items
The maternity unit also retained its UNICEF Baby Friendly Gold Accreditation last year, along with the hospital’s neonatal unit, making HDFT the only NHS Trust in England to achieve gold status across both services.
Celebrating and building on success
Jonathan Coulter, Chief Executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, praised the maternity team’s commitment to continuous improvement and recognised the importance of addressing areas for development.
He said: “I am delighted that our maternity service has achieved a good overall rating.
“The report recognises the many strengths within our maternity service and the outcome reflects the strong learning culture across HDFT. The way we develop skills, share knowledge, challenge ourselves and make continuous improvements for the benefit of patients is invaluable.
“Our maternity team works incredibly hard to provide safe, professional care for those who access these services and I am pleased that this has been recognised by the CQC in their report.”
Breeda Columb, Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and AHPs, added:
“I am extremely proud of the professionalism and dedication shown by our maternity staff.
“We know we still have improvements to make, but the team is working hard to provide all women, birthing people and their families with personalised care, whilst striving to further improve on our current service.”
Feedback from the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) also contributed to the inspection. Ruth Charlton, a representative of MNVP, praised the partnership’s collaborative approach, saying:
“This report highlights the strong partnership between the MNVP and HDFT, a collaboration built on openness, respect, and shared commitment to ongoing improvement.”
While recognising the progress made, the Trust remains focused on further enhancing the care it provides and ensuring the voices of service users are heard as it moves forward.