The BBC has reported this week that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told them that maternity units currently have the poorest safety ratings of any hospital service it inspects.
In an analysis of the CQC records, the BBC has found that the regulator deemed two-thirds, or 67%, of NHS maternity units to not be safe enough. This is an increase of 55% from last autumn.
Their analysis also revealed that the proportion of maternity units with the poorest ranking of “inadequate” had more than doubled from 7% to 15% since September 2022. An “inadequate” rating means that there is a high risk of avoidable harm to the mother or baby.
CQC comments
The CQC told the BBC that the situation was “unacceptable” and “disappointing”. They have been conducting focused inspections since 2018 because of well-reported concerns regarding maternity care. They have now said that these latest findings are the poorest they have been since the CQC started recording the data in this way in 2018.
CQC Deputy Chief Executive, Kate Terroni, said:
“We’ve seen this deterioration, and action needs to happen now, so that women can have the assurance they need that they’re going to get that high-quality care in any maternity setting across England.”
The decline in safety ratings
The BBC last analysed data from the CQC in Autumn 2022. That analysis showed that 55% of maternity units in England were not always safe enough. This has declined in 2023 with the latest figures showing that 67% of maternity units are not safe enough.
The proportion of units with the lowest possible rating from the CQC has more than doubled since 2022. This decline has happened even though there have been significant attempts to transform maternity care.
In 2016, an NHS programme was launched after an inquiry in 2015 into the failures that led to the deaths of babies at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust.
Sadly, this was one of the multiple maternity scandals across the country in which several Trusts have been found to have failing maternity units, leading to injury and even deaths of babies. Such cases led to widespread calls for an England-wide public inquiry into maternity care in this country.
What is being done to improve services?
The NHS said in 2019 that it was committed to reducing the number of fatalities in maternity cases by 50% by 2025. Unfortunately, it seems that this target will not be met and the Royal College of Midwives has said that the Government is not prioritising this enough.
NHS England has now said that it is working closely with Trusts to ensure “safer, more personalised and more equitable maternity care for all women, babies and families.”
The Department for Health and Social Care has said that £165m a year was being invested in boosting the maternity workforce. However, they did acknowledge that there is much more to do.
Comment
The reality at present is that maternity services are in crisis.
Over the last few years, there have been consistent reports of unsafe maternity units which have already resulted in injury and death to babies, mothers, and families.
This alone is devastating and unacceptable, but to see that despite the clear evidence of the crisis our maternity services are in, and the steps already being taken, this is far from enough as the statistics show that there has been a continued decline in the safety of our maternity units.
It cannot be understated how important it is that action is taken to protect mothers, babies, and families urgently. This cannot be allowed to continue with patients being needlessly put at risk.
How can we help?
Danielle Young is a Legal Director in our Medical Negligence team, which is ranked in Tier One by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500.
If you have any questions about the subjects discussed in this article, please contact Danielle or another team member in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
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