Maternity services at James Paget Hospital rated 'inadequate'
The wider NHS Foundation Trust has retained it's rating of 'good'
The maternity services at a hospital in Norfolk have been rated 'inadequate' by the Care Quality Commission
It follows an inspection in January, and means the CQC's overall rating of the James Paget Hospital has been downgraded from good to requires improvement.
Meanwhile the James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust- which runs the wider estate- still has a rating of 'good'.
What did the Care Quality Commission find?
-The service didn’t have enough staff to care for women, people using the service and babies.
-The service must ensure the culture significantly improves so that it doesn’t impact on the safety and care of people using the service. (In a recent survey 88% of midwives and 18% of medical staff had experienced or witnessed behaviours which weren’t in line with the trust ethos).
-Medical staff had not always completed mandatory training.
-There wasn’t assurance that managers monitored waiting times and made sure women could access emergency services when they needed or received treatment within national targets.
-The service did not always control infection risks well.
-Staff did not always assess the risks to women or act on them.
-The service did not always manage or report safety incidents well and learn lessons from them.
-Leaders did not always monitor how effective the service was or make sure staff were competent.
-There was no assurance that people could always access the service when they needed it or wait too long for treatment.
-Staff did not always feel respected, supported, and valued.
What did those at the James Paget Hospital have to say?
Jo Segasby, Chief Executive at James Paget Hospital, said:
“On behalf of our Trust, I want to apologise to our patients and communities that the James Paget’s maternity services have received this rating. Our hospital accepts the CQC report, and the clear actions that need to be taken to improve maternity services.
"Since receiving the warning notice from the CQC in February this year, we have worked quickly to make the immediate improvements required.
“This includes investing in and recruiting additional medical and midwifery staff to support the care received by those giving birth, and their families, as well as staff to improve effective safety reporting and monitoring arrangements.
“I want to emphasise that our maternity services continue to provide compassionate care to people giving birth and their babies, and we are working together as a hospital to plan and make improvements.”