The lives of mothers and babies were left in danger at one of England’s largest hospital trusts according to the care watchdog, the Care Quality Commission.
Maternity services at Nottingham University hospitals trust, which delivered 8,200 babies in 2019, have been downgraded to inadequate and enforcement action taken by the regulator.
The CQC made a series of unannounced inspections to the trust’s two maternity units the week after a coroner criticised what she said was an “unsafe culture” in one of the trust’s maternity units.
Wynter Andrews died in September last year at Nottingham’s Queen’s medical centre after being born via a caesarean section following long delays. Her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck and leg, resulting in her being starved of oxygen.
In a report of their findings, the CQC found staff at the units were chronically overworked. “We were told of occasions when unsafe staffing had been declared and this was challenged, and staff had been asked to change it back to safe by senior managers,” the report noted.
The inspectors added that “the service did not have an open culture where staff felt confident raising concerns without fear” and that patient safety incidents were being wrongly downgraded.
The regulator highlighted repeated failures of staff to use cardiotocography (CTG) equipment, which helps to monitor a baby’s heart rate during labour. “There were missed opportunities to identify risk to women and babies,” the report noted.
In October, the coroner, Laurinda Bower, ruled Wynter’s death had been caused by neglect. Wynter’s parents, Sarah and Gary Andrews, told the Independent they were “deeply worried” about the CQC’s findings and repeated their calls for a public inquiry into what had happened at the trust.
“There have been consistent concerns raised by the CQC for years and yet the trust have changed little,” they said. “We are not convinced that the trust is capable of change on their own. They have been given multiple opportunities over the years to make the changes to protect babies and parents and yet we are here.”
“We know that Wynter was not an isolated incident. We know there are other families out there who have lost babies because of the systemic failures of the trust,” they added.
Natalie Cosgrove, a lawyer from Switalskis Solicitors, said: “I am exceptionally concerned about the trusts ability to enact change. I remain of the view that without a public inquiry and further rigorous review, then I will be representing clients year after year in very similar and sad circumstances.”
