Southmead Hospital maternity staff commended by inspectors in new report

Maternity staff at Southmead Hospital have been commended by inspectors, who say other Trusts could learn how to reduce inequalities within their services.

It's as the service ran by North Bristol's NHS remains 'good' - with inspectors from the Care Quality Commission finding 'impressive work to inequalities and specific population groups'.

That includes proactive work with the local prison - and their efforts with local charities and an Islamic Centre to improve the experience of Muslim people giving birth - all of which were recognised during the latest inspection in November 2023.

The rating for safe has increased from requires improvement to good.

Effective, caring and responsive were not included in this inspection and remain rated as good.

'Staff should be proud'

Carolyn Jenkinson, deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said: “When we inspected maternity services at Southmead Hospital, we saw a service that was providing good care to women, people using the service, and their babies. It was led by committed leaders who had created an open culture, that was doing some very impressive work to inequalities for specific population groups.

“One example was setting up a project in partnership with local charities and an Islamic Centre to improve the experience of Muslim people who were giving birth. The project brought about changes including signs on doors of birthing rooms to prevent women and people using the service from being interrupted during prayer, and silk hair bonnets made available for people staying on the unit. The service was working with Bristol Muslim Strategic Voices to identify alternative medications that don’t contain pork products, as this isn’t permitted in the Muslim religion.

“The service was also working with Black Mothers Matter and the learning programme was supported by midwives from the service. The service provided information for Black people whose first language was not English. This included a storyboard where people could choose a different language which explained what to expect post discharge.

“There was also proactive work with the local prison. Midwives developed separation boxes specific to needs of pregnant people who resided in local prison to support them if they returned to prison following birth, without their baby. Staff had also facilitated unexpected birth in prison scenario training with prison staff and changes had been made by the prison service following this.

“It was lovely to hear staff were proud to work for the trust and felt valued and respected by managers. We found they were focused on the needs of people receiving care and saw them showing people dignity and respect. We also received positive feedback from people who told us they were happy with the care and support they had received while using these services.

“Staff should be proud of this hard work and commitment to enable people and their families to be able to receive the support they need at this special time. Other trusts could also learn from this report on how to reduce inequalities.

“We will continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to ensure people and their babies can continue to receive a good standard of care.”

During the inspection, it was found:

• Staff had training in key skills and worked well together for the benefit of women and people using the service
• The environment in most areas was suitable, and the service had enough equipment to keep people and their babies safe
• The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them. When appropriate the service completed rapid reviews and action plans following incidents to minimise the risk of recurrence
• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent
• The service engaged well with women and people using the service, and the community to plan and manage services

However, inspectors did note:

• Infection risk was not always well controlled. Not all areas were visibly clean
• Staff did not always store all medicines and prescribing documents safely. However, the service took immediate action to address this
• The service did not always report all incidents to external bodies, such as the national learning and reporting system

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