By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Nottingham’s two biggest hospitals have been warned by independent inspectors that they are failing to meet legal standards of patient care.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission [CQC] have ordered Nottingham University Hospitals Trust to improve “governance” and “culture” at both Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City.
They have served the trust with a warning notice, issued when care “falls below what is legally required”
The trust is already scrambling to recruit more midwives as it battles to improve maternity services that have previously been rated “inadequate”.
A CQC spokesperson said: “We carried out an inspection of the trust’s leadership in July 2021.
“Following that inspection, the trust was issued with a warning notice requiring it to take action to improve corporate and clinical governance and oversight of risk, and to ensure a more positive, open and supportive culture across the organisation.
“We will report on the full findings from the inspection as soon as we are able to.”
It is still unclear if the warning notice relates to “continuing failure to comply with a legal requirement”. If it does, the CQC may take further action.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust deputy chief executive and chief financial officer Rupert Egginton said: “We accept the CQC’s comments. Work is already underway to learn from the findings and make improvements so that the organisation is led as effectively as possible and we continue to provide world class care for our patients.”
The warning notice comes after NUH’s maternity services were rated inadequate in 2020 – and a CQC follow-up visit in May this year found that although improvements have been made, there was still more work to do.
NHS England and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which provides local healthcare services, also confirmed last month that a review dating back to 2016 will examine baby deaths at the trust.
Dozens of midwives are set to be recruited by QMC and City Hospital in the next few months.
