CQC rates Derriford Hospital’s maternity service requires improvement

Published: 8 March 2023 Page last updated: 8 March 2023
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The maternity service at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, has seen its Care Quality Commission rating drop from good to requires improvement, following an inspection undertaken in September.

The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity services inspection programme. This programme aims to 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 locally and nationally.

The inspection found women and babies were not always receiving standards of care they have a right to expect in Derriford Hospital’s maternity service, which is run by University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.

While Derriford Hospital’s maternity service is now rated requires improvement, ratings for the trust and hospital overall are unchanged following this inspection. Both remain requires improvement overall.

Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said:   

“At times, the quality and safety of maternity care at Derriford Hospital fell short of standards women and babies have a right to expect.

“Like many other services across the NHS and wider care sector, the service lacked enough staff to meet the needs of people using it – although University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust was recruiting to reduce these vacancies.

“We also found training targets weren’t being met, and the trust must address this to ensure people’s safety.

“However, staff were doing their best to provide good care and keep people safe, and women could access the service when they needed it.

“We found good collaboration between staff for the benefit of women and babies. They managed infection risk well and were committed to driving improvement.

“Following the inspection, we told the trust’s senior leaders where they must make improvements. They must use our report to address where the service is not meeting standards people have a right to expect.

“We continue to monitor the service and the wider trust, including through future inspections, to support it to deliver safe and effective patient care.”

The inspection found:

  • There were not enough staff to care for women and keep them safe.
  • Staff did not always assess risks to women when they were admitted to the service or attended maternity triage.
  • Staff did not always receive adequate training in key skills, including for emergency evacuation of the birth pool and safeguarding.
  • There were risks of documentation being incomplete before the implementation of a new IT system.

However:

  • Staff worked well together for the benefit of people.
  • Staff had good relationships with their teams, and teams supported each other.
  • The service engaged with women and the community to plan and manage services.

Contact information

For enquiries about this press release, email regional.comms@cqc.org.uk.

About the Care Quality Commission

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England.

We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and we encourage care services to improve.

We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find to help people choose care.