East Kent maternity deaths: Staff 'committed' to improvements

Michelle Cudjoe said the Care Quality Commission had delivered a "tough" report

Staff at an NHS trust where babies died due to care failings are "absolutely committed" to improvements, its new head of midwifery and nursing has said.

Michelle Cudjoe told the BBC there was a "mindset of continual improvement" at East Kent Hospitals Trust which will lead to a "safer, kinder" service.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has downgraded maternity units in Ashford and Margate to "inadequate".

Visiting inspectors were so concerned, they considered shutting one unit down.

The CQC inspection in January came weeks after a review found at least 45 babies might have survived at the Ashford and Margate units had they received better care.

It laid bare multiple instances of inadequate practices, including staff failing to wash their hands after each patient, and life-saving equipment not being in the right place.

One first-time mother told the BBC how she was left in bloody sheets at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford for three days after a "horrendous" birth".

She said she would not return to the unit as she would fear for her life.

Philippa Chapman described her experience giving birth to son Ambrose as "horrendous"

Philippa Chapman recalled her ordeal after it emerged the CQC considered shutting down the William Harvey unit over safety concerns. Instead, it called for "immediate improvements".

Analysis

By Mark Norman, health correspondent, BBC South East

In the words of one executive at East Kent, it's "job started, not job done".

Between CQC inspectors going into the trust's maternity departments in January and publishing their report at the end of May, a significant amount of work has been done to improve safety standards and patient care.

A newly-appointed head of midwifery says she is "positive" about what she has seen in her first two weeks in the job.

If there has been progress, most families will say about time but will also reserve judgement on that progress until it's seen to be embedded in the trust and the way it treats its patients.

Ms Cudjoe said inspectors delivered a "tough" report but she had joined a team which was "absolutely dedicated and committed to improvements".

She said there was "a mindset of continual improvement which will be a key to success" and since January there had been several changes implemented and sustained, with data to prove it.

She also revealed that 3,600 women had been approached about their treatment and 90% of those had been satisfied with the care they received.

But she said the trust was "also interested" in the 10% of women who felt they were dissatisfied with their care.

"That is the mindset we have, about continual improvement and listening to women, and that is how we will move to a maternity service that is safer, kinder and more personalised," she said.

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