Leeds hospitals told to make immediate improvements to maternity services after damning CQC inspection
Two hospitals in Leeds have been told they must make immediate improvements to their maternity and neonatal services after a damning inspection.
Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and St James’ University Hospital - which are both run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) - were visited by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following complaints from whistleblowers.
As a result, maternity services at both hospitals have been downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ overall, as well as for the categories ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’. For the categories ‘effective’ and ‘caring’, both hospitals have been rated as ‘requires improvement’ - although they were rated good in the ‘responsive’ category.
It comes less than a year after the Yorkshire Evening Post spoke to a bereaved Leeds couple whose baby died just 27 minutes after being born. They are among a number of families calling for improvements to maternity care in the city.
After the recent inspections, the CQC issued a warning notice demanding that improvements are made amid what has been described as a “significant risk to the safety of women” and their babies.
The watchdog also shared concerns in neonatal services, including a lack of “qualified staff to care for babies with complex needs”. The services have been rated ‘requires improvement’ overall, with the ratings for the ‘safe’ category ‘inadequate’. Meanwhile, the ‘effective’ category was rated ‘good’.
During unannounced visits in December and January, inspectors found breaches in maternity services related to learning following incidents, risk management, safe environment, infection prevention and control, medicines management, and management processes.
The overall rating for LGI has declined from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’, while St James’ University Hospital remains rated as ‘requires improvement’. The rating for the trust remains rated as ‘good’.
In response to the findings, LTHT bosses said they have already started to make improvements, including recruiting more midwives and tackling issues with staffing, culture, and infection control.
Ann Ford, CQC’s director of operations in the north, said: “Prior to our visit, we had received a number of concerns from staff, people using the services and their families about the quality of care being delivered, including staff shortages in maternity at both hospitals.
“During the inspection, the concerns were substantiated, and this posed a significant risk to the safety of women, people using these services, and their babies as the staff shortages impacted on the timeliness of the care and support they received.”
She continued: “We heard that senior leaders didn’t always listen to staff concerns around staffing levels. This was having an impact on their wellbeing and the quality of people’s care.
“Staff were working hard to provide good care to people, but leaders weren’t listening to them when they identified areas of concern or where they needed support, to do so.
“Additionally, it was concerning that appropriate investigations weren’t always carried out after incidents had taken place, meaning staff couldn’t always learn from them to help prevent them from happening again. This impacted on the quality of care people were receiving.
“In neonatal services, we found there weren’t always enough qualified staff to care for babies with complex needs. Also, babies were being transferred from Leeds General Infirmary to the special care baby unit at St James’s University Hospital when it wasn’t safe for them to do so.
“We raised this as an urgent concern and asked for immediate assurances that steps would be taken to mitigate this risk. The trust has created an action plan to ensure they are monitoring the situation and have improved oversight of transfers to ensure they are delivering safer care.
“We issued the trust with a warning notice to focus their attention on making improvements to maternity services. We’ve also asked the trust for an action plan to address our concerns. “
She said that services would be monitored closely. The reports for both hospitals will be published in full on the CQC website.
Responding to the findings, Professor Phil Wood, chief executive of LTHT, said: “These reports have highlighted significant areas where we need to improve our maternity and neonatal services, and my priority is to make sure we urgently take action to deliver these improvements.
“I want to reassure every family due to have their baby with us in Leeds and any new parents that we are absolutely committed to providing safe, compassionate care.”
He explained that the trust delivers more than 8,500 babies each year with most being “safe and positive experiences”, acknowledging however that it is not the case for all - and that any loss is a “tragedy”. Professor Wood said it was “vital” that families are listened to more, also thanking “dedicated” staff for raising concerns.
“We have already started making improvements to our services, including recruiting 55 midwives since autumn 2024 after additional funding was agreed by the Board last year,” he continued.
“We are currently 11 midwives short of our nationally recommended target of 367 but we continue to actively recruit to meet this standard. A further 35 newly qualified midwives are due to start work with us this autumn. We appointed additional midwifery leadership roles to support our clinical teams to deliver safe high-quality care to all our families.”
Professor Wood said that the findings around culture would also be addressed by encouraging staff to report concerns, introducing meetings for staff with senior leaders.
He said: “Since the CQC inspections in December and January we have already improved our infection control and cleanliness with greater presence of matrons on our wards, visits and inspections to ward areas and the replacement of damaged furniture and equipment. We have improved our medicine storage and management, with a full stock audit and comprehensive checks implemented.”
In response to concerns about some babies being transferred from LGI to the special care baby unit at St James’s University Hospital when it wasn't safe to do so, Professor Wood said: “We immediately responded to these concerns and made the changes required and are monitoring this on a regular basis working closely with the Yorkshire and Humber Neonatal Operational Delivery Network (ODN).
“We have a robust plan in place, with the support of NHS England, that will enable us to continue to improve and deliver high quality safe care for the people of Leeds and beyond.
“We’ve already set up a Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme and are establishing a Programme Board which will have an independent chair and include people who have used our maternity and neonatal services, and staff. This Board will be focused on transforming our culture and leadership, providing safe and compassionate care for families, listening to staff and patients, and understanding the needs of our local communities.”