Baby deaths probe: Hospitals must issue weekly safety reports

THE hospital trust at the centre of a maternity deaths scandal has been ordered to provide weekly safety reports to the NHS watchdog.

The Care Quality Commission yesterday said it remained ‘very concerned’ about the Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals where up to 100 mothers and babies are feared to have suffered devastating harm.

This is despite claims from executives at the trust that maternity services were ‘safe’, ‘caring’ and had made substantial improvements.

The CQC is taking enforcement action against the trust’s maternity services and its two A&E units after uncovering serious failings during an inspection in August.

This means managers must provide regular updates to the watchdog outlining what they are doing to improve care.

If the CQC is not satisfied by these updates it has the power to close or suspend departments.

Yesterday it published a briefing document explaining the actions it was taking against the trust.

The full details of the poor care uncovered by its inspectors will appear in a report next month. The briefing note said problems had been identified with midwives’ monitoring of babies before birth and sepsis treatment in A&E.

Professor Ted Baker, the CQC’s chief hospitals inspector, said: ‘We remain very concerned about the emergency department and maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.’

The trust’s maternity services are being investigated as part of a major review ordered by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt in April last year. It is now looking into 100 incidents of poor care.

Several families claim they were pressured into having natural births without caesareans or forceps which led to their babies being stillborn or suffering brain damage.

Around 5,000 women give birth within the trust’s maternity services every year. These include a main maternity department and five smaller midwife-led units.

Dr Edwin Borman, the trust’s medical director, said: ‘We are addressing all the areas raised by the Care Quality Commission.’