Watchdog finds expired milk in maternity services

The watchdog said they found expired milk at Musgrove Park Hospital

Inspectors have found expired milk in the fridge of a maternity service unit at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset.

The health watchdog also said some staff did not always wash their hands when entering clinical areas at Yeovil District Hospital.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told the trust which runs Somerset hospitals Musgrove Park, Bridgwater Community and Yeovil District, their maternity services must improve.

The chief executive of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust apologised to families and colleagues who worked hard in the service. He said "significant action" had been taken in response to concerns raised.

The CQC acknowledged staff at the trust were "keen to improve the services and some of the problems were out of local leaders’ control".

Following an inspection of the three hospitals' maternity services in November, the watchdog said it had found a "deterioration" in the quality of care provided.

Particular focus was aimed at Musgrove Park and Yeovil District hospitals, which were rated as inadequate overall following the inspection.

Bridgwater Community Hospital's Mary Stanley Birth Centre, a midwife-led unit, was rated requires improvement overall in its first inspection.

At Yeovil District Hospital, the CQC said it was concerned staff were not always cleaning their hands

Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of secondary and specialist care, said: “At Musgrove Park Hospital, we saw staff weren’t using a standard method to assess and prioritise people based on clinical need when they arrived, which meant that people were being assessed differently based on the individual who saw them.

“At Yeovil District Hospital, we were concerned that staff weren’t always cleaning their hands when entering clinical areas to care for people, and they weren’t always following the trust’s uniform policy to help reduce spreading germs.

“There were high rates of staff sickness at Bridgwater Community Hospital and poor staffing levels meant the birth centre and home birth service had to close for five months between February and July last year.

"However, the trust had taken steps to recruit more midwives.

“Despite these issues, across the trust we found staff were keen to improve the services and some of the problems were out of local leaders’ control.

"At Musgrove Park Hospital, inspectors noted the buildings were in poor condition and required regular maintenance, which posed an ongoing challenge for the quality of maternity services they were able to provide."

The CQC will return to check on the hospitals' progress in addressing their concerns, and said it would not "hesitate to take action" if people were not receiving the care "they have a right to expect".

Chief executive for Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Peter Lewis, said: "The real issue is that we do recognise that we have fallen short of the standards that are expected and the standards that we would expect.

"It's important to say sorry to the families that do use our services, but also sorry to the colleagues that work very hard in those services, some of which the CQC has recognised in a positive way."