Bradford Royal Infirmary

Ratings - Maternity

• Overall

  Good

• Safe

  Good

• Effective

  Good

• Caring

  Good

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Good

Our view of the service

We carried out a responsive unannounced inspection of the maternity service, looking at some elements in the safe domain and all elements in effective, caring and responsive key questions.

The service had made improvements and was no longer in breach of regulations we previously identified. The service had implemented staff training surrounding incident grading. An audit schedule was in place to review incidents to provide assurance. The trust used the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF). Staffing reviews had been completed using the nationally recognised Birthrate+ tool and recruitment had been approved at board level in June 2025. The service had recruited 41 newly qualified midwives due to commence in October 2025 and November 2025. The recruitment of midwives brought the service in line with the birthrate+ staffing requirements.

Staff had training in key skills and senior leadership had addressed important areas, improved governance processes and mitigated risks.

People's experience of this service

Feedback from women we spoke with onsite was mainly positive about the care being provided.

Women told us that they were mostly happy with the care they had received and were informed of what to expect during labour and they understood the process.

They told us they were offered pain relief and were happy with the food and drink options that were available.

Women told us that staff were helpful, accommodating and polite. They said staff checked if they could enter the bed area when curtains were closed to give them privacy. Women told us that staff gave assistance when needed, for example with personal care and breastfeeding.

However, some women told us that they had experienced delays in waiting to see a doctor and for medicines to be prescribed when discharged home.

We spoke with the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) leads responsible for Bradford Royal Infirmary following inspection. They told us they worked collaboratively with women (users of the service) and staff to ensure women felt listened to and to drive improvement within the service. Feedback was mixed evidencing both positive and negative feedback. Some women felt unheard and perceived this to be due to unconscious bias, language barriers and misunderstanding surrounding informed consent. Senior leaders worked closely with the MNVP, reviewing feedback in order to improve practice and women’s lived experiences.