Maternity services at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital 'showing widespread improvement'

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the maternity service at the hospital as 'good' following an inspection in April, which was carried out as part of its national maternity inspection programme.

The programme aims to provide an up-to-date view of the quality of hospital maternity care across the country, and a better understanding of what is working well to support learning at a local and national level.

Following the inspection in Dudley, a new report published today shows the overall rating for maternity, as well as the areas of safe and well-led, have moved up from 'requires improvement' to 'good'.

Inspectors found nursing and midwifery staff received and kept up to date with their mandatory training and staff knew how to identify adults and children at risk of, or suffering, significant harm working with other agencies to protect them.

Maternity service areas were described as clean and had suitable furnishings which were well-maintained, while students and international midwives said they felt supported by the staff team.

Inspectors said staff followed infection control principles and carried out daily safety checks of specialist equipment, although it was also noted that the services were under-staffed.

Carolyn Jenkinson, the CQC's deputy director of secondary and specialist healthcare, said: “When we inspected maternity services at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, we were pleased to see widespread improvements in the quality of care being provided to women, people using the service and their babies, however, under-staffing often affected the timeliness of care and treatment being provided.

“Staff were proud of the organisation and spoke highly of the supportive and inclusive culture with leaders that were visible and approachable.

"All staff were focused on providing the best possible care and were proactive in addressing any health inequalities.

“It was re-assuring to see safety champions regularly reviewing incidents as well as doing frequent walk rounds of the service to observe and offer support to staff.

“The service should be commended for how well staff considered the needs of women and people using the service with protected characteristics.

"For example, staff ensured people with neuro-disabilities got additional help with their birth plans to support their individual needs.

"We were also told about an occasion where a British sign language interpreter was organised to support a woman for the whole of their labour.

“However, leaders need to continue to mitigate the impact of under-staffing in the service. Often staff from the maternity ward who cared for women and people before and after birth were deployed to the labour ward to ensure safe care."

The CQC said it would continue to monitor the trust to ensure people using its services continued to receive a good standard of care.

The overall rating for the trust remains as 'requires improvement'.