Chesterfield Royal Hospital maternity department rated good

The facility was built on a existing staff car park next to the previous Emergency Department (ED) building

Maternity services at Chesterfield's Royal Hospital have been rated good by inspectors.

The inspection was carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in May and looked specifically at the level and safety and leadership in the department.

The service has now been rated good overall in its latest report.

However, inspectors said they had some safety concerns over staff numbers and training.

Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC's deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said: "When we visited maternity services at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, we found a leadership team that had the skills and abilities to manage the service well.

"There was a positive culture within the service and staff felt respected, supported and valued. People, their families and staff felt they could raise concerns without fear, and we were pleased to find leaders were visible and approachable, for them to do so.

"However, we did find some concerns around safety. For example, the service didn't always have enough maternity staff, and some staff weren't up to date with their mandatory training which the trust have started to address."

Krishna Kallianpur, Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust chief nurse, said: "This is great news for the trust and something we are very proud to announce. It is incredibly challenging for trusts to reach this standard of care in maternity services and is testament to a lot of hard work by colleagues at all levels."

Inspectors did not look at any other services at the hospital, which has a "requires improvement" rating overall following its last inspection in 2020.