The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated maternity services at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, run by Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, good, following an inspection in May.
This inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity services 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.
As well as maternity services remaining good overall, the rating for being well-led also remains rated as good. Being safe has dropped from good to requires improvement. CQC did not look at effective, caring and responsive which still remain rated as good from their previous inspection.
Royal Albert Edward Infirmary remains rated as good overall.
Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said:
“When we visited maternity services at Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, we found a leadership team that had the skills and abilities to manage the service well.
“We found a positive culture within the service where people, their families and staff felt they could raise concerns without fear to leaders that were visible and approachable.
“It was encouraging to see that people could access the service when they needed it and didn’t have to wait too long for treatment. We saw staff who were committed to improving services to ensure people received a high standard of care.
“However, we did find some staff weren’t up to date with their mandatory training, although since the inspection the trust have assured us all staff will have completed this by 2024. Additionally, since the inspection leaders have provided evidence to reassure us that there were always enough staff on shift who had completed appropriate training in order to keep women, people using the service, and their babies, safe.
“We’ll continue to monitor the service, including through future inspections, to ensure people continue to receive a good standard of care.”
Inspectors found the following during this inspection:
- The service had enough staff to care for women and keep them safe
- Staff worked well together and with other organisations for the benefit of people
- Staff understood how to protect people from abuse, and managed safety well
- The service controlled infection risk well and managed clinical waste well
- Staff assessed risks to people, acted on them and kept good care records
- Staff understood and followed medicine management processes and reported serious incidents when required
- Leaders monitored and managed safety and learned lessons from them
- Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills
- The service engaged well with women and the community offering services unique to their local population
- Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of women and people using the service.
However:
- Staff were not always up to date with key skills training to ensure safe treatment of women and people using the service.