The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated maternity services at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust as good overall following an inspection in April.
The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity inspection programme.
The 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 at a local and national level.
Inspectors looked at the areas of safe and well-led in the maternity services. Following the inspection, the services were rated:
- West Cumberland Hospital – the maternity rating for well-led is rated as good and safety is rated as requires improvement. The overall rating for maternity services at West Cumberland Hospital is good
- Cumberland Infirmary – the maternity rating for well-led is rated as good and safety is rated as requires improvement. The overall rating for maternity services at Cumberland Infirmary is good
- Penrith Community Hospital – the rating for maternity services at Penrith Community Hospital has been rated good overall and for being well-led. Safety is rated as requires improvement.
The overall rating for the trust remains as requires improvement.
Carolyn Jenkinson, deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said:
“When we inspected maternity services at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, whilst we saw some good elements of effective leadership and teams working well together, there were some improvements needed to ensure safe care is being provided to women, people using the service and their babies.
“Staffing levels at each hospital didn’t always match the planned numbers needed to keep people and babies safe. Community midwives were sometimes moved to the main hospital sites to provide cover which meant there weren’t always enough staff at the birth centre or to assist with home births which could place people and their babies at risk.
“It was encouraging, however, that leaders had recruitment plans in place to fill any vacancies, including working with the local university which offered apprenticeships in midwifery, and recruiting internationally trained midwives who could bring a wealth of experience and knowledge.
“It was positive that leaders were visible and approachable across all three maternity sites. Staff told us how supportive their managers were, and it was good to hear that the executive team regularly visited wards and helped with any issues brought to their attention.
“Staff were focused on providing the best possible care and we saw several examples of caring and kind relationships between staff and people using the service. Staff from every role told us they felt valued and were treated as part of a greater team.
“We will continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to ensure the necessary improvements are made so people and their babies can receive safe and appropriate care.”
Inspectors found the following during this inspection:
At West Cumberland Hospital:
- Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills
- Systems and processes weren’t in place to monitor competency in the use of medicines
- Not all staff had training in key skills including life support and safeguarding training.
At Cumberland Infirmary:
- Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work
- All staff were committed to improving services continually
- Not all staff had training in key skills including life support and safeguarding training.
At Penrith Community Hospital:
- People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment
- Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent
- Levels of appraisal completion wasn’t in line with trust targets.