CQC tells trust to move care of sick babies

A trust has moved the care of some sick babies out of one of its neonatal units at the Care Quality Commission’s request.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust said babies requiring more than 24 hours of neonatal intensive or high dependency care would now be moved from St James’ University Hospital to the Leeds General Infirmary, which has a neonatal intensive care unit, or alternative hospitals.

The trust confirmed this followed a request from the Care Quality Commission, which carried out unannounced inspections of its maternity and neonatal services in December and January.

Previously St James’ had been providing “less complex elements of intensive care and high dependency care”, despite only having a “special care baby unit” (SCBU), which typically provides care for less seriously ill babies than a NICU.

This unusual position had been agreed with the Yorkshire and Humber neonatal operational delivery unit. The trust said its neonatal doctors and nurses worked across the units in both hospitals, and were qualified and trained to treat babies requiring the highest level of care.

The trust’s maternity services have recently been criticised by a group of parents, and HSJ last week highlighted how they have been rated “red” for high perinatal mortality in the national maternity services audit four times in the past seven years.

Chief nurse Rabina Tindale said: “Individuals are still able to give birth at St James’ Hospital and babies will receive the appropriate level of care in our SCBU, but this [change] does mean that if babies need more than 24 hours of intensive care or high dependency care, they must be transferred to Leeds General Infirmary or another unit.”

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Source: HSJ, 1 April 2025