York and Scarborough maternity services see significant investment, council told

Bosses at the trust which runs York (pictured) and Scarborough hospitals were questioned by a City of York Council scrutiny committee

Maternity services at two North Yorkshire hospitals have seen "significant investment" since an inadequate rating, a meeting heard.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said in June people couldn't access services at York and Scarborough hospitals when needed and found "poor leadership".

On Tuesday, bosses at the hospitals' trust were questioned by a City of York Council scrutiny committee.

The committee chair said he saw "lots of encouragement" in recent changes.

During its last set of inspections, which ended in March 2023, officials found issues with safety measures and staff training, as well as a lack of qualified and trained midwifery staff at both maternity units.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Dawn Parkes, York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust interim chief nurse, was asked about maternity services staffing and culture.

"There were some urgent actions taken before we got the report," she told the health, housing and adult social care scrutiny committee.

"In maternity particularly there's been a lot of investment, particularly around some of the specialist roles."

'Really positive'

"Significant investment" had gone into maternity roles, she said, adding: "One of the things I've put in place is a much clearer career framework.

"We've introduced apprentice healthcare assistants so that we've got a really clear structure for people in the community we can support into employment."

Overall, the entire trust was rated as "requires improvement" by the CQC.

When questioned about governance, she said: "It's absolutely a core priority because unless we know our business, we can't move forward."

The chief nurse said work had been done in maternity services "so [staff] feel safe raising concerns".

Councillor Danny Myers, committee chair, said he saw "lots of encouragement" and "really positive" steps to address the damning CQC report.