The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report following an inspection of the maternity services at the Newham University Hospital, run by Barts Health NHS Trust.
CQC carried out an unannounced focused inspection in response to concerns received about the safety and quality of the maternity services, relating to the governance and culture of the service.
As this was a focused inspection, the maternity service was not re-rated and remains requires improvement overall. The service was also rated requires improvement for being safe, effective and well-led.
The overall rating for the hospital was not re-rated and remains requires improvement.
Nicola Wise, CQC’s head of hospital inspection, said:
“We went in to inspect the maternity services at Newham University Hospital after concerns were raised about the overall culture and governance of the service. In the main, we found that the service was well-run with enough well-trained staff, who were focused on the needs of the women in their care.
“However, although most staff said they felt respected, supported and valued by all managers, some staff told us that they did not. Staff knew how to report incidents and near misses in line with trust policy, and most said they felt confident in doing so, although a small group of staff said that said they felt reluctant to escalate issues because they feared they would be blamed. This is concerning, as opportunities to learn from incidents could be missed.
“However, leaders were aware of the challenges that the service faced, particularly around the perception of a lack of support from some managers, and low staff morale, and had put actions in place to address this. Most staff we spoke to said they felt incidents were better managed under the new leadership team. Managers debriefed and supported staff after any serious incident and a staff newsletter and web platform were used to share learning from incidents across the service.
“We are pleased to see the progress the trust has made improving the service since our last inspection in 2019. We have pointed out a number of areas in which the service could make further improvements and we will continue to monitor progress.”
Inspectors found the following during this inspection:
- The medical leadership structure was not fully embedded with all medical staff and some staff were unsure of their responsibilities
- There was a perceived culture of blame amongst some staff
- Some staff were not given enough time to complete their specialist roles
- Safety champions were not visible, and staff were not always aware of the safety champions role and responsibility
- There was a lack of information available in languages other than English for people using the services and visitors.
However:
- The senior leadership were visible and well received by all staff
- The service managed serious incidents well with actions and learning disseminated to all staff
- Staff understood how to protect women from abuse and the service worked well with other agencies to do so
- Staff collected safety information and shared it with staff, women and visitors
- Leaders and staff actively and openly engaged with patients, staff, equality groups, the public and local organisations and planned care to meet the needs of local people.
Full details of the inspection are given in the report published on our website.
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