The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which regulates health services in England, has published a damning report regarding the standard of care at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, rating the maternity services as ‘inadequate’.

This follows a set of inspections from October 2022 to March 2023 at its York and Scarborough Hospitals’, after a warning notice was issued to the trust in March 2022 due to concerns.

Sarah Dronsfield, CQC Deputy Director of Operations in the north said the CQC expect to see rapid and widespread improvement, so people receive the high standard of safe care they deserve.

The report found “poor leadership” stating that there was not enough midwifery staff and junior medical staff with the right qualifications, skills, training, and experience to keep women and babies safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. It states that some staff reported the pressures of reduced staffing numbers had caused them to reduce their hours due to feeling that every day at work was unsafe and a risk to patient safety.

The inspection also identified that patients were being put at risk of harm from a lack of good processes being in place. For example, staff were failing to appropriately complete risk assessments and keep care plans up to date. Also, managers were failing to investigate incidents and share lessons learnt promptly, to avoid further harm or injury occurring. There was also poor infection control, with dirty equipment and premises, and clinical waste not being managed appropriately.

There were “significant concerns” with the lack of available CTG machines (baby heartbeat monitor) on the maternity units. This meant that staff were unable to continually assess, monitor and identify deterioration of fetal well-being, which in some cases resulted in delays in responding to fetal deterioration. The report states “there was no evidence that senior leaders had mitigated the risk of lack of CTG machines.”  Inspectors reviewed medical notes which showed staff were not interpreting, classifying, or escalating CTG appropriately. They found documentation on CTG was poor and not in line with clinical guidelines. It is of vital importance pregnant women and babies are continually appropriately assessed and monitored, to avoid harm or injury occurring.  

The CQC have said they hope to see improvement when they return for more inspections in the near future. The Trust have responded saying they accept the findings and that they recognise they have much work to do to improve patient safety, which should be paramount.  

At Switalskis, we represent many families that have suffered as a result of poor maternity care. If you or a loved one has any concerns relating to any treatment provided by this trust, please get it in touch so that we can begin to support you, like we do so many other families.