Urgent action ordered at maternity scandal trust

The trust at the centre of a maternity scandal has been ordered to report on urgent improvements in services for women and babies, amid ‘significant concerns’ about the risk of harm.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) used its enforcement powers to issue the conditions on East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, after it carried out an unannounced inspection last month.

However, the “section 31” warning letter has just been made public, and the first deadline for the trust to report back to the CQC is Monday (20 February).

The CQC said some of the problems it found were due to the labour ward environment – but others involved monitoring of women and babies whose conditions deteriorate and the risk of cross-infection due to poor cleanliness standards.

“We have significant concerns about the ongoing wider risk of harm to patients and a need for greater recognition by the trust of the steps that can be taken in the interim to ensure safety and an improved quality of care,” Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said in a statement today.

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Source: HSJ, 17 February 2023