The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published reports for two maternity services provided by Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, following inspections in May.
The services at Frimley Park Hospital and Wexham Park Hospital were inspected 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 locally and nationally.
Following this inspection, the rating for maternity services at Frimley Park Hospital remains good overall and also for being well-led. Safe remains rated as requires improvement. The hospital overall remains rated outstanding.
The rating for the maternity service at Wexham Park Hospital remains good overall and also for being well-led. Safe remains rated as requires improvement. The overall rating for the hospital continues to be rated good.
CQC’s overall rating for Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust is unchanged by this inspection and remains good overall.
Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of secondary and specialist care, said:
“We found people generally received good care at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust maternity services. Leaders had the skills and abilities to help staff meet the needs of women and other people using services. They also supported and encouraged staff to develop their skills for the benefit of people using services.
“The implementation of a new end-to-end maternity dashboard in June 2022 had meant accurate data wasn’t always available. This caused issues when looking at data warning scores for women and other people who may have had difficulties giving birth. However, leaders had mitigated this risk and had put in place temporary data-tracking systems and processes to ensure a continued oversight of the service while the IT system fully came into effect.
“Staff used the Modified Early Obstetric Warning Score (MEOWS) for women and other people using the service. While reviewing these records, staff told us observations weren’t always recorded correctly on the system and it didn’t automatically calculate potential risks. Following these concerns, the service has made improvements and observations are now recorded on the electronic system which is more efficient.
“We found staff managing challenges well and working to continually improve services for people using them. This included engaging well with women and birthing people using the service to plan and manage their care.
“We will continue to monitor the services, so the trust can build on where it’s providing good care and make improvements where they’re needed.”
Inspectors found at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust:
- The services had enough suitable equipment and staff available to help them to safely care for people.
- The trust was committed to improving services by learning when mistakes happened.
- The services used a 24-hour telephone triage line for maternity queries and labour advice which was staffed by midwives within the local area. This meant women and other people using the service had access to professional advice at any time of the day or night to ensure safe care.
Inspectors found at Frimley Park Hospital:
- The mandatory training was comprehensive and met the needs of people using the service and staff.
However:
- Compliance with training, such as obstetric emergency training must meet the trust targets to ensure people’s safety.
Inspectors found at Wexham Park Hospital:
- There was funding and support from the trust to appoint a lead person who engaged local people from hard-to-reach groups, to continue the trusts work on cultural sensitivity and health inequalities.
- Birthing plans were put in place which were co-produced with the safeguarding team when concerns were identified,
However:
- The leadership team do need to improve staffing levels in the maternity department.