Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Safety concerns at scandal-hit trust’s maternity services
Two hospitals could face enforcement action
Inspectors have raised concerns over the safety of maternity units at the centre of a baby deaths scandal.
The Care Quality Commision (CQC) says an unannounced inspection of the East Kent Hospitals Trust revealed “areas of concern” regarding patient safety.
They made a surprise visit to maternity units at the QEQM in Margate and Ashford’s William Harvey Hospital earlier this month and will decide whether enforcement action is needed once they hear back from trust bosses.
Following the visit on January 10 and 11, the CQC says it has now written to the trust to “ensure people are safe and protected from risk”. Deanna Westwood, CQC’S director of operations for the south, said: “We inspected maternity services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust on January 10 and
11 and identified some areas of concern.
“We have written to the trust to request evidence of the steps it is taking to ensure people are safe and protected from risk. “We will review the trusts response to determine whether the use of our enforcement powers is required.
“We will report on our full inspection findings and any action we take in due course.” It comes less than four months after a harrowing report revealed the devastating scale of failings at the trust which resulted in unnecessary deaths and injuries in babies and mothers.
Dubbed the Kirkup report, the large-scale investigation showed that if care had been given to nationally-recognised standards, the outcome could have been different in 97 of the total 202 cases reviewed - a total of 48%.
Sarah Shingler, chief nursing and midwifery officer and deputy chief executive, said: “We continue to work hard to improve our maternity services, including our work to listen to and act on feedback from those using our care. Although changes have been made, we know there is a lot more to do. “While the CQC recognised some of the improvements as a consequence of that work, they also identified some areas of concern following their inspection last week.
“We are taking immediate action to respond to the CQC and address these concerns to ensure we are delivering the high-quality care we and our patients expect.”