The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has again rated maternity services at Warrington Hospital, run by Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, as good following an inspection in September.
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.
As well as the overall rating for maternity services being rated good again, as have the ratings for being safe and well-led. Effective, caring, and responsive, were not included in this inspection.
The overall rating for Warrington Hospital remains rated as good.
Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said:
“When we inspected maternity services at Warrington Hospital, we saw a service that provided good care to women, people using the service, and their babies. It was led by committed leaders who were well respected, approachable, and supportive. They had also created a culture where staff worked well as a team and spoke positively about each other.
“Inspectors found, staff completed and updated risk assessments and took action to remove or minimise risks to people. They also identified and quickly acted when women and people using the service were at risk of deterioration.
“We were also pleased to see some outstanding practice. The service had set up an antenatal and postnatal clinic in a hotel which was housing asylum seekers, to reduce barriers to accessing care, and supporting people who have been made vulnerable by their housing situation.
“We did also find some improvements were needed around safety. Most staff understood how to protect people from abuse, and the service worked well with partner organisations to do so. However, improvements were needed around the number of medical staff who had completed their safeguarding training on how to recognise and report abuse, which was raised at the last inspection. Also, not all staff understood the systems to report safeguarding concerns which could put people at risk.
“We will continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to ensure people and their babies can continue to receive a good standard of care.”
Inspectors found:
- The service was visibly clean and staff-controlled infection risk well
- Staff assessed risks to people, acted on them and kept good care records
- Medicines were managed well
- The service identified, recorded, and responded to safety incidents well and learned lessons from them
- Staff were passionate about the care they provided and were engaged in improving the service further
- Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent
- People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
However:
- Not all staff had completed the required mandatory training
- Policies were not always in place or did not reflect current practice or provide sufficient guidance for staff.