York hospital: CQC concerns over maternity services

The trust expressed concerns over medication management and the availability of monitoring equipment

A watchdog has said there are "serious and significant concerns" about maternity services at York Hospital.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has written to the hospital following inspections in October and November.

Concerns raised by the watchdog include issues around medication management, the availability of monitoring equipment and unit closures.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the findings were "disappointing".

The inspections came after the whole trust was issued a warning notice in March and told urgent improvements were needed.

Trust Chief Executive Simon Morritt said: "The CQC flagged serious and significant concerns in the maternity department at York, specifically in relation to governance processes, and assessing and responding to risks for patients."

He said a full report from inspectors was expected in January and no separate concerns had been raised about Scarborough Hospital.

Mr Morritt said the feedback was "both concerning and disappointing" and they had "an awful lot of work to do in a relatively short space of time" to submit a plan of action to the watchdog.

The trusts said it had "an awful lot of work" to do in a short time

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Morritt told a trust board meeting: "I think all of us recognise that we do have challenges in maternity and I think if we're being honest with ourselves, we probably didn't acknowledge and recognise that they were quite as significant as those identified by the CQC."

In 2021, a whistleblower also claimed maternity service staffing levels at the trust were "putting women and babies' lives in danger every day".

Earlier this year the trust's chief nurse Heather McNair said maternity services were facing "unprecedented times" and staff shortages and increasingly complex birth added to the strain.

The closure of the maternity unit, for up to 24 hours, has also become more common, with patients being diverted to other hospitals.