By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
The Chief Nurse at Sherwood Forest Hospitals has responded to the trust’s recent maternity inspection – which rated the service ‘good’ but raised safety concerns.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the trust’s King’s Mill Hospital, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, in November.
The CQC said there was a “positive culture” within the service but the trust has been told improvements must be made after the rating for safety dropped from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.
A CQC report published on February 23 raised concerns over maternity triage – an area where advice and assessments are given to pregnant women – and staff training.
For midwifery staff, compliance with training ranged from 39 per cent to 100 per cent.
The triage system was also found to be “ineffective” as there were multiple options that people could choose when calling the unit which “posed a risk to those needing urgent care”
But the CQC highlighted two areas of ‘outstanding’ practice including education around feeding newborns and supporting staff with the challenges of returning to work from maternity leave.
The hospital as a whole remains rated as ‘outstanding’ by the CQC – the only hospital with this rating in the East Midlands.
Chief nurse Phil Bolton said he was “really pleased” with the maternity rating.
He said: “It’s good news for our staff, for all the hard work they do every day under extreme pressure.
“It’s good for our local population to come in and expect a high standard of care.
“It is really important to note that nowhere in the report does it say our services are unsafe.”
He said training levels are now around 89-90 per cent and added that work on the triage system is “underway”.
Nottingham University Hospital’s maternity services at City Hospital and the Queen’s Medical Centre, run by a different NHS trust, are currently rated ‘inadequate’ by the CQC – meaning some level of maternity safety concerns have been raised at all three of the city and county’s main hospitals.
Mr Bolton said: “For expectant parents, it’s an anxious and worrying time anyway – seeing things in the media and patient stories and feedback about poor experiences is really worrying.
“The thing with maternity services is it’s unpredictable. There’s a huge external focus on maternity and that extra scrutiny puts a lot of pressure on our leadership teams.
“Our organisation, just like NUH (in Nottingham), gives lots of good and high quality care.
“There have been challenges and difficulties across all our maternity services but if you read our report it’s really good.
“King’s Mill remains outstanding and Sherwood Forest remains good, not many organisations in the country can say that.”
He added the hospital has an “open and transparent culture”.
The report said “more women and birthing people were choosing to birth at King’s Mill hospital which was affecting the capacity of the service”.
Mr Bolton said: “We have seen a slight increase in births and it is something we need to watch over a period of time.
“I think there are lots of contributing factors. There may be some parents who feel they want to come to Sherwood Forest Hospitals because they are concerned about what’s in the media about NUH at the moment.
“I reassure parents that NUH is doing a really good job, they’ve got lots of outstanding and caring staff that are focusing on improving and keeping their department safe, just like us.
“Other factors are transport and where the family live, it is sometimes easier to get out of Nottingham than into Nottingham.
“I don’t think it is fair to say it’s all about the bad press, the media and the challenge that NUH have got.”
Greg Rielly, CQC’s deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said: “Both women and staff felt they could raise concerns without fear, and we were pleased to find that leaders were visible and approachable, for them to do so.
“However, we did find concerns around safety which leaders must work to address. We found that the triage system was ineffective, with a multi-option phone line meaning calls could end up being put through to the labour ward.
“Additionally, while staff told us they knew how to prioritise calls of clinical concern, this wasn’t always clearly documented, meaning leaders couldn’t be assured appropriate triaging had taken place.
“We will continue to monitor the service, including through future inspections, to make sure that the trust improves the safety of this service.”
