Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Scandal-hit trust sets out action plan
‘Although a number of changes have been made, we know there is a lot more to do. While the CQC recognised some improvements, they also identified some areas of concern...’
A scandal-hit hospital trust has pledged to roll out an action plan for its maternity services after more failings were found by a watchdog.
East Kent Hospitals says it is taking steps to address concerns after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) threatened enforcement measures last month. The unannounced visit by inspectors on January 10 and 11 raised “multiple areas of concern” at the QEQM in Margate and the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.
Among these were issues around fetal heart monitoring and the speed and effectiveness of maternity triage at Ashford. This included women not being seen within 15 minutes of coming to triage, which at times suffered from staffing issues, and a lack of a fetal heart monitoring midwife in post. There were also a number of concerns around infection control at the Ashford hospital, as well as fire safety at the QEQM. Following the inspection, the CQC said that it would consider enforcement action on the issues, however notes from the trust’s latest board of directors meeting said that “a proactive set of actions” had been taken to address concerns.
“We will provide any further evidence should that be requested by the CQC in advance of their report being published,” it added. Among the actions taken are the introduction of a dedicated fetal heart monitoring midwife, increased doctor coverage in triage and changes to fire routes.
It is understood that changes have been reflected in both hospitals regardless of where the faults were first found. Sarah Shingler, chief nursing and midwifery officer at the trust, 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 a number of changes have been made, we know there is a lot more to do. “While the CQC recognised some of these improvements in the maternity service, they also identified some areas of concern and we have taken immediate action to address these to ensure we are delivering the high-quality care we and our patients expect.
“This includes employing a dedicated fetal heart monitoring midwife, adding an automated electronic alert for staff when a fetal monitoring check is due, increased doctor cover of triage at William Harvey Hospital, changes to fire routes and strengthening processes around regular cleanliness checks.” This comes 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%. The data showed that 45 of 65 baby deaths could have been prevented if appropriate care had been given. In relation to cases of injury to babies, the panel found the outcome could have been different in 12 of the 17 cases of brain damage. When it came to maternal injuries and deaths, it was found the outcome could have been different in 23 of 32 such cases.