- NHS hospital
St Mary's Hospital
Assessment report published 25 September 2026
Ratings - Maternity
Our view of the service
Portsmouth Maternity Centre is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 5pm on weekends for antenatal and postnatal clinics. Out of these hours, care is provided to women by staff from the main hospital site. For women under the continuity of care team, this is provided on an on-call basis. Community midwifery teams provided midwifery care to women throughout the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal period and were also based in this unit.
Maternity services at St Mary’s Hospital include antenatal, intrapartum (care during labour and delivery) and postnatal maternity care. The service hosted a wide range of clinics and resources to support the local community. These included consultant and midwifery led antenatal clinics, midwife and maternity support worker led postnatal clinics, phlebotomy services, newborn hearing, infant feeding, birth reflections and a perinatal mental health clinic which included a psychologist clinic. The service also held parent education classes and a drop-in service for vaccinations and feeding support. The service had 7 clinic rooms and 2 delivery rooms with ensuite facilities, one with equipment for active birth and one with a birthing pool. Active birth is an approach where the woman moves freely, chooses upright positions, trusts their instincts rather than remaining in bed.
We refer to women in this report, but we recognise that some transgender men, non-binary people and people with variations in sex characteristics (VSC) or who are intersex may also use services and experience some of the same issues.
Intrapartum care activity levels at Portsmouth Maternity Centre were low. In the 18 months prior to our inspection, 12 babies were born at Portsmouth Maternity Centre. There were no births at the Portsmouth Maternity Centre in October 2024, March 2025, and in the period of July 2025 - February 2026.
Safe:
Women were not always protected from avoidable harm. Safeguarding training compliance was significantly below target, and safeguarding risk assessments were not consistently completed. IPC standards, environmental safety, and staffing arrangements were not consistently effective.
Staff understood safeguarding processes and raised concerns appropriately. The service promoted a learning culture, incidents were investigated, learning was shared, medicines were managed safely, and staff responded appropriately to deterioration.
Effective:
Care was not always person-centred and did not consistently reflect women’s preferences and choices. Outcomes for women were not consistently monitored in a way that demonstrated measurable improvement.
Women and those close to them were involved in assessing their needs. Care was generally delivered in line with evidence-based guidance, pain was managed effectively, and staff supported women to make informed decisions about their care.
Caring:
Staff treated women with kindness, compassion, and respect. Women’s privacy and dignity were maintained, and staff responded to their needs in a timely way. Women were encouraged to ask questions and be involved in discussions about their care.
Responsive:
The service did not always provide care that reflected women’s preferences and choices, including their planned place of birth. Access to labour and birth services was not consistently monitored.
Women were involved in planning and decisions about their care, had access to information they could understand, and were encouraged to provide feedback. The service worked to address health inequalities and supported staff wellbeing.
Well-led:
Governance and oversight systems were not always effective in identifying, monitoring, and addressing risks. Leaders did not have sufficient oversight of safeguarding compliance, completion of safeguarding risk assessments, IPC, environmental risks, staffing, access to care, outcomes for women, and the effectiveness of improvement actions.
Leaders and staff understood the service vision and promoted a culture of openness, learning, and improvement. Leaders were visible and supportive, staff felt able to speak up, and there was a commitment to equality, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
At this inspection, we found the service was in breach of legal regulation in relation to Regulation 12 Safe care and treatment (Safeguarding). The service continued to be non-compliant in staff undertaking safeguarding training.
An action plan will be requested upon publication of the final report.
At this assessment the rating is Requires Improvement.
People's experience of this service
Women we spoke with were positive about the service. At our last assessment we rated this key question as good. Information from the maternity survey 2025 benchmarking report showed that women were positive about their birthing experience with Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. Women told us they felt safe, well supported and cared for by both the midwifery and medical teams. Staff explained risks and involved people in the decision-making process.
While feedback expressed women were happy with their care, our assessment found the care (or elements of the care) did not meet the expected standards.