Under-fire Nottingham maternity units are improving, says nurse

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust is already facing a review after a series of problems

A hospital trust has made a "real difference" in improving its failing maternity services, a health boss has said.

Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust was last year rated "inadequate" by inspectors following dozens of baby deaths and injuries.

Improvement work is being monitored by the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire clinical commissioning group (CCG).

Danni Burnett, the group's deputy chief nurse, updated councillors on Tuesday.

'Every stone lifted'

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said she told Nottinghamshire County Council's health scrutiny committee a maternity sub-group had been created to monitor progress.

"There is an absolute commitment to drive rapid improvement," she said.

"What we're starting to see is a real difference, a step change.

"Pace still continues to be a focus for NUH at maternity services. Staffing, Covid infections and the vaccination programme have been a particular focus in the last eight weeks.

"We absolutely want to ensure that every stone is lifted and every improvement is taken in terms of maternity services."

When asked how long it would take to improve services, she responded: "Initially, we heard 12 months being talked about in terms of moving from inadequate to outstanding.

"When we look at other services across the country that have had significant scrutiny, it has been years.

"I wouldn't want to put a time on it because I think it is really important that we get this right."

'Not safe'

The failings at maternity units at Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre between 2010 and 2020 are subject to an independent review by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Health scrutiny committee chairman Sue Saddington - who has previously called for a public inquiry into the trust - said more evidence was needed of improvements.

"Until we can see that babies are coming out very safely...to me it is not safe," she said.