A hospital maternity service has dropped two ratings to ‘inadequate’ after the Care Quality Commission warned of a ‘chaotic environment’, where leaders normalised poor practices and failed to act on safety concerns.
The Care Quality Commission inspected Hull Royal Infirmary’s maternity services earlier this year, and imposed urgent conditions on the service, requiring Hull University Teaching Hospitals Trust to make “rapid improvements” to keep people safe.
The overall maternity rating fell from “good” to “inadequate”, the CQC announced today, although it only reviewed the “safe” and “well led” domains. The inspection was part of an ongoing national CQC maternity inspection programme, which has downgraded numerous services to “inadequate” over the last year.
The regulator said the antenatal day unit and triage department was a “chaotic environment which was not fit for purpose”, and found some staff described “unkindness” from peers. Women and service users waited long periods without an offer of food or water, it said.
Significant concerns were raised about safeguarding, with staff unable to identify adults and children suffering or at risk of significant harm.
Source: HSJ, 9 August 2023
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