The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published a report following an inspection of maternity care at Northampton General Hospital.
The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity services inspection programme. This will provide and 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.
Following this focused inspection, the overall rating for the maternity service at Northampton General Hospital remains requires improvement. The service is also rated requires improvement for the areas of safe and well-led.
The overall rating for Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust remains requires improvement.
Craig Howarth, CQC deputy director of operations in the Midlands, said:
“When we inspected maternity services at Northampton General Hospital, we saw that staff were competent and treated patients with kindness, but several improvements were needed across the department.
“Staff didn’t always follow infection control measures to help prevent the spread of infection which is especially important in an environment with new-born babies.
“The service had been on a journey where it recognised action needed to be taken to address the culture within the unit. Staff said although there were more opportunities to speak up, they still felt their concerns hadn’t always been listened to or addressed.
“However, we also saw some positive areas of care. Staff worked well together for the benefit of women and understood how to protect people from abuse and keep them safe.
“They understood the service’s vision and values and there was a new leadership structure in place which leaders hoped would implement positive change.
“We will continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to ensure the necessary improvements are made so women and their babies receive appropriate care.”
Inspectors found the following during this inspection:
- Staff didn’t consistently complete checks of specialist equipment and there were some out of date and missing items on emergency trolleys
- Not all midwives and medical staff had completed level 3 safeguarding training or training in infection prevention and control
- Staff didn’t always fully and accurately completed records in relation to antenatal appointment and birthing plans
- Infection, prevention and control wasn’t always followed to reduce the risk of infections, from the environment and the use of PPE.
However:
- The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them
- Staff had undertaken mandatory training in some key areas and skills
- The service had enough medical staff to care for women and keep them safe.