Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has apologised for where its maternity services “have fallen short” and failed to “consistently meet the standards of care we aspire to provide”.
Rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in July 2024, an inspection team returned unannounced last July to review the maternity units at Bedford Hospital and the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.
The CQC published its findings last month, and the rating remained unchanged. Now a report to Luton Borough Council’s health and wellbeing board hashighlighted the impact of the CQC’s inspection.
Read: CQC finds “little change” as Bedford maternity services remain ‘inadequate’
“Areas for improvement were identified, notably our backlog of incidents, but particularly around our estate and mainly within our Luton and Dunstable maternity unit,” said the report.
“It was reassuring the CQC reported feedback from the women they spoke to indicating ‘the service provided high quality, compassionate and responsive care’ and ‘a positive experience with the staff’.
“But we accept the CQC’s findings that our maternity services didn’t meet the standards of care we aspire to provide and where our service has fallen short, we’re sorry. Women and babies deserve consistently safe, high-quality care.”
Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust chief executive officer David Carter told the board: “We were very disappointed by the recent CQC report, after last year’s visit.
“Number of changes”
“We’ve made a number of changes, with the most significant the move into the new (hospital) block,” he said. “That was from a building which wasn’t fit for purpose at all to a modern maternity unit.
“The complexity involved with some of the women who present at Luton drives a particular resource requirement. This planned workforce reform is a significant investment in our midwifery and medical staff over a period of time, although recruitment isn’t straightforward.
“There’ll be a move to digital records for our units, which was delayed so as not to coincide with the relocation, which helps where more complex women might be under several different services within the organisation.
“We’ve made a £7m increase in the amount of staff during the past five years. The pressures on maternity units are significant. A big driver in resource requirements is the caesarian section rates.
“The report focuses on some of those things we clearly haven’t been able to do, some core requirements, such as mandatory training, appraisal and instant clearance.
“We’ve prioritised keeping the unit safe,” he added. “Those things effectively require taking people off the unit. Sometimes the unit is so pressurised, we’ve sacrificed that.
“One of the disappointing things is the CQC looks at process, and not outcomes. We must get to where we need to around the process failures.”
LBC’s director of public health Kelly O’Neill described the rating as “disappointing”, saying: “The last inspection was two years ago and plenty of improvement has gone into this.
“But technically you’re still in the same position. How far away are you from being a safe, well-run, quality-driven service?”
The trust’s chief nurse Liz Lees replied: “We were optimistic some of the improvements were coming through more than they did.
“Our demand was constantly outstripping our capacity because of some of the challenges. That’s not an excuse, but the reality of where we were.”
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
