Significant improvement found in maternity services at Peterborough City Hospital

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found significant improvements in the maternity services at Peterborough City Hospital and Hinchingbrooke Hospital.

Both of the hospitals managed by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust have seen their ratings boosted from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good.’

PCH was also rated at ‘inadequate' in the category well-led, this has also been upgraded to ‘good.’

PCH does continue to be rated as ‘requires improvement’ in the category of safe and has an overall rating of requires improvement.

Hinchingbrooke also continues to be rated as ‘requires improvement’ in the category safe.

Inspectors at PCH found:

- There were now daily safety checks of emergency and specialist equipment which was an improvement from the last inspection.

- The service had put in place a new system to prioritise women that presented to triage.

- The trust had appointed an equality, diversity, and inclusion midwife to care for the diverse population and hard-to-reach community including the local female prison.

- There is a daily student safety huddle which helped staff learn from their experiences on the wards.

- However, most but not all women and people using this service received one-to-one care during active labour.

Inspectors found at Hinchingbrooke Hospital:

- Staff had training in key skills and worked well together for the benefit of women and people using services.

- Staff understood how to protect people using services and babies from abuse.

- The service worked well with people in the local community to plan and manage services.

- However, staffing levels at times did not match the planned numbers potentially putting people’s safety at risk.

Gill Hodgson-Reilly, CQC’s Deputy Director of Operations - East of England said: "When we revisited Hinchingbrooke Hospital and Peterborough City Hospital maternity units, I was pleased to see how much improvement had been made since our previous inspection. Women, people using the service, and babies are all receiving much better care as a result.

“Maternity leaders now had the skills and abilities to run both services, and this showed in both the care people were receiving, and how focused staff were on people’s needs. There was also now a maternity non-executive director and a long-term plan to address risks and remaining oversight issues.

“It was great to see that people could access maternity care when they needed it without waiting too long, and at Peterborough they had implemented a new system to prioritise those who presented to triage, helping to keep them safe.

“At Hinchingbrooke we found leaders were visible and approachable for people using the service and they supported staff well. However, there is still some work to do, around improving safety in the service at Hinchingbrooke. Staff didn’t always fully complete risk assessments so there was the potential for missed opportunities to escalate care when it was needed.

“Leaders at the trust know this and the other improvements they need to make and I’m confident they’ll continue to build on this recent success. We’ll continue to monitor the services to ensure they’re maintaining and building on this success to make further improvements, and to ensure people are safe.”

The reports for Peterborough and Hinchingbrooke can be found on the CQC website.