Blackpool Victoria Hospital issues putting mums-to-be at risk, CQC says

Maternity staff worked hard and treated women with compassion, the CQC report said

Staffing issues at a hospital's maternity department mean it does not always have enough workers to keep women safe, the care watchdog has said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it had "serious concerns" about Blackpool Victoria Hospital's services after an inspection in June.

Deputy chief inspector Ann Ford said the CQC "weren't assured that women and babies were receiving safe care".

The trust that runs the hospital said it accepted the watchdog's findings.

The CQC, which had previously rated the hospital's maternity services as good, said it urgently needed to improve after receiving concerns about how the department was managing with low staffing.

Giving the services a overall rating of requires improvement, the CQC said it had written to Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to share its concerns and request an action plan.

'No discussion'

Ms Ford said inspectors "weren't assured that women and babies were receiving safe care and treatment".

"It was concerning there wasn't always enough midwifery staff to care for women and keep them safe," she said.

"This was a significant risk to women receiving timely and appropriate care and treatment, exposing them to the risk of harm."

She said inspectors found some women were waiting for prolonged periods to be induced and there was "no discussion" about the risks to those women and babies that were being delayed.

The CQC report also stated staff did not adequately support women to breastfeed, that records were not clear, up-to-date or easily available and that the way medicines were stored "could expose women and babies to the risk of harm".

However, inspectors praised the hard work of staff in the department and said they treated women with compassion and kindness, taking account of their needs and providing them "with emotional support when they needed it".

They also found outstanding practice in the department's use of Facebook Live events which gave a forum to women and their families to ask questions.

'Disappointed'

The inspection follows a report published in June by Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group which found Fylde health services only achieved 12 of its 43 performance targets and emergency care at Blackpool Victoria Hospital was rated as "inadequate" in January.

The trust's chief executive, Trish Armstrong-Child, said it was already working towards "making the necessary improvements required".

"The safety of mothers and their children is very important to all of us and we want to make sure that there is strong evidence of this as they continue to use our services over the coming weeks, months and years," she added.

"While we are disappointed to see our overall rating of maternity services change, I am pleased that we have retained good for caring and had areas of outstanding practice highlighted in the report.

"We will continue to work hard to make sure women remain confident and feel safe when giving birth at Blackpool Victoria Hospital."

She also thanked maternity colleagues who went "over and above" in the last two years.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [e-mail]