The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report following an inspection of the maternity service at Kettering General Hospital run by Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in October.
The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity services inspection programme. This will provide an up-to-date view of the quality of hospital maternity care across the country, and a better understanding of what is working well to support learning and improvement.
Following the inspection, the service has been rated requires improvement overall and for being safe and well-led.
This was a focused inspection, so CQC didn’t rate how effective, caring and responsive the services were. These domains are currently unrated.
The trust rating has not changed following the inspection; therefore, it remains rated as requires improvement overall.
Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said:
“When we visited the maternity services at Kettering General Hospital, it was encouraging to see leaders generally had the skills and abilities to run the service and were visible and approachable to both staff and people using the service. However, they didn’t always understand or manage the priorities and issues they faced.
“During the inspection, we found staff didn’t always manage cleanliness well. Staff completed tick box cleaning checklists, but there was nothing formal to show cleaning had been done. We also found half empty, unlabelled formula milk packs stored in the freezer, so people, their families, and staff wouldn’t know who it belonged to or how long it had been there. On one ward, we found dirty equipment, stained shower seats and debris left behind following refurbishment work in bathrooms. This put people at risk of harm from infection.
“We saw managers made sure incidents were investigated thoroughly and shared lessons learned, however, actions weren’t always taken a timely way. Staff reported serious incidents clearly and people and their families were included in investigations. Also, when things went wrong, staff apologised and were compassionate, providing information and support.
“Additionally, leaders engaged with women and people using the service, staff, equality groups, the public and local organisations to help tailor their services to meet local needs. They ensured people knew where to go for further support and they also developed and delivered a training programme to educate all staff on how to identify and reduce health inequalities.
“It is clear that staff and leaders are compassionate and working hard, however, we have informed the trust where they needed to make improvements. We will continue to monitor the service closely, to determine whether the issues we identified are addressed so women and people using the service receive the safe care they have a right to expect.”
Inspectors found:
- Staff did not always complete all safeguarding records fully or in a timely way
- Staff did not always follow triage processes to complete and update risk assessments
- Staffing levels for midwives did not always match the planned numbers, putting people and their babies at risk
- Some women and people using the service experienced delays in care
- Staff did not always store medicines safely
- Not all staff felt respected, supported, and valued. A small number of staff spoke about difficulties with communication between teams and inconsistencies in management, and there had been some instances of discrimination
- The service did not always ensure duty of candour was carried out appropriately or in a timely way.
However:
- The service provided mandatory training in key skills to all staff and made sure everyone completed it. Staff understood how to protect people from abuse
- The service used systems and processes to safely prescribe, administer, and record medicines
- The service was focused on the needs of women and people receiving care
- All staff were committed to continually learning and improving services.