CQC says most NHS maternity units are not safe enough

England’s healthcare regulator has warned that maternity units currently have the poorest safety ratings of any hospital service it inspects.

Recent analysis by the BBC shows it deems 67 per cent of the units not to be safe enough, up from 55 per cent 12 months ago.  The deterioration has been blamed partly on a shortage of midwives.

The Department for Health and Social Care said £165m a year was currently being invested in boosting the workforce, but said “we know there is more to do”.

The analysis also revealed that the proportion of maternity units with the poorest ranking of “inadequate”, meaning that there is a high risk of avoidable harm to mother or baby, has more than doubled from 7 per cent to 15 per cent since September 2022.

The CQC said the situation was “disappointing” and “unacceptable”.

Kate Terroni, chief executive of the health regulator, 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.”

Ms Terroni went on to say that the regulator had been conducting focussed inspections due to concerns about maternity care.  These findings are “the poorest they have been” since it started recording the data in this way in 2018.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (jacquelinevance@chadlaw.co.uk), medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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