Hospital maternity unit's safety rating improves

Blackpool Victoria Hospital's maternity unit delivers about 3,000 babies every year

Improvements have been made at a hospital's maternity department but more work still needs to be done, inspectors have said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) previously said it had "serious concerns" about Blackpool Victoria Hospital after an inspection in 2022 found that they were not assured that women and babies "were receiving safe care".

Following an unannounced follow-up inspection in May, the CQC has improved the unit's safety rating from "inadequate" to "requires improvement".

While inspectors found "some areas of innovative practice and staff going the extra mile", they also said leaders needed to make improvements "particularly around staffing".

'Safe care'

The maternity unit delivers about 3,000 babies every year and inspectors visited the maternity day unit, triage, antenatal ward, postnatal ward, delivery suite and obstetric theatres.

They had concerns that the number of consultant vacancies was impacting patient care, appropriate theatre staffing and delays to the induction of labour process.

The CQC acknowledged, however, that managers had taken "immediate action to address the concerns and submitted an action plan".

The health and social care regulator's report said it had received "sufficient assurance that appropriate action had and was being taken by the trust to reduce immediate safety risks to women and their babies".

Inspectors also found:

• Consultants did not always conduct daily ward checks, which led to delayed assessments and women and their babies being discharged late

• There were significant delays in sharing results of perinatal mortality reviews with families, which impacted their grieving

• Specialist midwives were often used to cover staff absences, meaning they had less time to focus on their specific duties

However, the CQC also found:

• The triage unit had implemented a dedicated phone line, and a safety message, that explained what to do if people's condition deteriorated while they waited

• Staff ensured people were treated with dignity and were on hand to give assistance with personal care and breastfeeding

• They knew how to recognise and report abuse and worked well with other agencies

Linda Hirst, the CQC's deputy director of operations in the north-west of England, said: "We've shared our findings with the trust so they know where there's good practice to build on and where significant improvements must still be made.

"We'll continue to monitor the service closely to ensure people and their babies receive safe care while these improvements are ongoing."

The overall rating for the maternity service remains as "requires improvement".

Maggie Oldham, chief executive of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals, the trust that runs the hospital, said: "It is reassuring to see that, while the service remains rated overall as requiring improvement, inspectors have rightly noted areas of good practice and improvement.

"This is reflective of the tremendous work done by our colleagues."