Derby and Burton NHS trust's maternity services rated inadequate

Maternity staff at Royal Derby Hospital (pictured) were faced with "overwhelming" workloads, according to the CQC

Maternity services in Derby and Burton-upon-Trent have been rated inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The watchdog raised concerns about care at the Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital, in reports published on Wednesday.

CQC inspectors said it was "disappointing to see such a significant lack of strong leadership" at the hospitals.

The NHS trust that runs the sites has apologised to mothers and families.

The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust said it was taking the reports "very seriously".

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The Maternity Safety Alliance (MSA) said the CQC findings were "worrying".

MSA founder Emily Barley - whose daughter Beatrice died during labour at Barnsley Hospital last year - said: "The CQC's inspection of maternity services at the Royal Derby Hospital and Queen's Hospital add further evidence to our view that the maternity care system in England is broken."

She said she was concerned about "very basic failings" uncovered by the CQC.

The hospital trust's maternity units were assessed by inspectors in August.

Both have subsequently had their maternity services downgraded from "good" to "inadequate".

Inspectors found patients at both sites were left at risk of harm and that staff were not adequately trained and had not always reported incidents.

At Queen's Hospital, limited equipment, facilities and ongoing building maintenance had affected patient safety and care and was not always safe, according to the CQC.

There was a lack of privacy for women, with 26 beds sharing two showers, which women told the CQC were "unsanitary and unhygienic".

The report added: "The service did not always have enough nursing and midwifery staff to keep women, birthing people and babies safe."

There was no stable leadership team at Queen's Hospital, the CQC said, with "high unplanned turnover" and vacancies

At the Royal Derby Hospital, the CQC said there were not enough midwives or medical staff to keep women and babies safe and that key and mandatory training was not always up to date.

Incidents were not always investigated in a timely way, the CQC added.

Following the inspections, the CQC instructed the trust to urgently update training, improve cleanliness and ensure safe levels of staffing.

The CQC's deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare - Carolyn Jenkinson - said: "We found staff didn't always feel respected, supported, or valued by leaders at both hospitals, with staff at Royal Derby Hospital becoming visibly distressed when we spoke to them due to the overwhelming workloads and lack of clinical and emotional support from them."

'Made immediate changes'

The CQC said it would continue to monitor both hospitals.

The hospital trust's interim executive medical director and consultant paediatrician, Dr Gis Robinson, said: "We apologise to mothers and families that our service is not consistently delivering to the standard we strive for or they should expect, and our staff are determined to use this feedback to deliver improvements at pace.

"We took the CQC's findings very seriously and made immediate changes, ensuring we are using clinical best-practice, and putting more leadership roles in place to support staff, parents and parents-to-be."

She added 28 new midwives had been recruited since August, and 18 more were due to join in December.

She said £6m had been invested in additional doctors, specialist midwifery roles, sonographers and new ultrasound software.

The latest inspections mean Royal Derby Hospital's overall CQC rating has fallen from "good" to "requires improvement", while Queen's Hospital remains rated as "requires improvement" overall.

It comes as an independent review into maternity care at neighbouring Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust continues.

The review is set to be the biggest of its kind in NHS history, with 1,800 families set to be included.

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