The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated maternity services at New Cross Hospital, in Wolverhampton, as good again following an inspection in October.
The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust provides acute hospital services for approximately 450,000 people in Wolverhampton, Cannock and the surrounding areas. Maternity services are provided at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.
This inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s continual checks on the safety and quality of healthcare services.
Following the inspection, the maternity service was rated as good overall again, as well as for being safe, effective and well-led. Caring wasn’t inspected so retains its previous rating of outstanding, and responsive wasn’t inspected so retains its previous rating of good.
The overall rating for The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust remains as good.
Andy Brand, CQC deputy director of operations in the midlands, said:
When we inspected the maternity service at New Cross Hospital, we found a well-led service where mothers and babies received good care and had positive feedback to give on their birth experiences.
People told us they felt safe and had good communication from staff. Staff also ensure that people’s journey through the different parts of maternity as their pregnancies progressed was smooth.
We saw that leaders and staff had the knowledge and skills and to provide safe and effective care. Staff were knowledgeable about people in their care and the challenges the service faced. Leaders also held regular meetings to analyse risks such as reviewing admissions to the neonatal unit to keep people safe.
Managers promoted a good safety culture where incidents were investigated, and learning was embedded to promote good practice and to prevent them from happening again. Staff spoke of feeling fully supported by leaders and were happy in their roles which had a positive knock on effect on people’s care.
However, we have told the trust they need to improve their staffing levels as it did sometimes lead to delayed treatment. Delivery suite staffing was below the recommended numbers on both days of our inspection and there were consistent delays in induction of labour whilst people awaited transfer from the delivery suite.
Staff should be really pleased with the service they’re providing, and we will continue to monitor the trust, to make sure women and people using the service continue to receive good care in future.
Inspectors found:
- Call bells were always answered promptly when people needed help or assistance.
- Staff followed good infection prevention control techniques such as washing their hands, using alcohol gel, and wearing personal protective equipment.
- Staff were friendly, supportive and helpful.
- There was an excellent clinical pharmacy presence to support staff on the wards with medicine needs.
- Processes were in place around safeguarding and staff spoke positively about the safeguarding team and felt they could call for support.
- There was a positive learning culture at the trust and staff spoke highly of this.
- Women on a low income were able to access free bus travel to the hospital via a quick response code and could also claim back some other transport costs.
The full report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.
