Warwick Hospital's maternity care unit still '˜requires improvement' according to care commission

The department has been expanded to accommodate up to 200 births a year that would have been managed at the Horton in Banbury with consultant-led maternity there being replaced by a midwife-only unit in October.

The Warwick unit was given a ‘requires improvement’ notice in March 2016 that has been upheld on appeal by the CQC.

The commission’s report said: “Care in labour was not always achieved. The trust did not provide evidence that any registered clinical staff within the maternity service had completed their level 3 safeguarding children training, which was a national requirement for their role.

“Records were not always stored securely. Termination of pregnancy records were not consistently completed in line with legislation.

“There were processes in place for maternity staff to learn from incidents, however these were not working effectively in practice.

“Intravenous fluids were not always stored in a safe environment meaning there was a risk they could be stolen or tampered with.

“The trust’s mandatory training target of 85 per cent had not been achieved in either the maternity or gynaecology service.”

The report said there was a good track record on safety with low rates of infection. Patients reported that they received good care and that staff were friendly and helpful.

Patient records were completed and observations recorded.

When women asked for help, they were responded to in a timely manner or told that they would be helped as soon as possible.

Patients told inspectors that staff were helpful and that they explained things to them in a manner they could understand.

Friends and family surveys had reported positive feedback from patients.

An appeal by the South Warwickshire Trust resulted in up-rating of two ‘requires improvement’ assessments in end of life care.

A trust spokesman said: “We appealed the overall rating and in March 2017 the CQC responded to the Tappeal and accepted that there were some procedural weaknesses in their inspection and that there was evidence of some unduly harsh ratings judgements.

“The latter resulted in changes to two of the ratings but the CQC has not changed our overall trust rating. We are still not satisfied and has requested a re-inspection as soon as possible.

“We would like to assure expectant families that we are in a position to provide safe and effective maternity services and we will be increasing choice for women with the opening of a midwifery-led birth unit early next year.”

The ratings changed were end of life care; responsiveness - from requires improvement to good, and well-led – from inadequate to requires improvement.