York Hospital maternity services rated ‘good’ by CQC

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) upgraded the rating of the maternity services at York Hospital following a two-day inspection in April.

It follows the watchdog improving the wider hospital site’s rating from inadequate to ‘requires improvement’ last year.

Maternity services at Scarborough Hospital were also rated good overall after a separate two-day inspection by the CQC in April.

The director of midwifery at the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs York and Scarborough hospitals, said it was a “proud moment” for the trust and “for the women and families we care for”.

York Hospital (Image: Newsquest)

CQC inspectors praised the “kindness and dedication” of staff and found “strong evidence of teamwork, learning and collaboration”.

The CQC said the reports also highlighted improvements in incident management, safer and more consistent triage, fire safety arrangements, maternity equipment, baby tagging and staffing arrangements, alongside stronger governance and oversight.

Inspectors found women received personalised care and that staff respected their personal, cultural, social and religious needs.

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Gill Hodgson-Reilly, the CQC’s deputy director of operations in the north-east, said: “Women and their babies are now getting the quality of care they deserve led by kind and dedicated staff teams

“Women consistently told us staff were kind, supportive and listened to their concerns, with some describing them as ‘real life angels’. We saw thank you cards displayed across all areas showing positive feedback and gratitude.”

She added that staff told the CQC that the hospital had a “strong culture of teamwork, and collaborative working”, adding: “Leaders and staff should be pleased with the positive findings, and we look forward to seeing their continued progress. We’ll continue to monitor the trust, including through future inspections, to ensure the improvements are embedded and sustained.”

‘We know our work does not stop here,’ says trust boss

The York and Scarborough trust’s director of midwifery, Sascha Wells-Munro, staff had been on a “significant journey” since York Hospital’s maternity services were rated inadequate.

“Behind this rating are hundreds of people who have supported one another and remained absolutely focused on providing safe, high-quality and compassionate care. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to every member of our maternity teams. They should feel enormously proud of what they have achieved,” she said.

“Importantly, thank you to every woman and family who has taken the time to share their experiences with us. Listening to those experiences, learning from them and acting on what we hear is fundamental to how we continue to improve our services,” Ms Wells-Munro added.

“We know our work does not stop here. I want to assure all women and families that we will keep listening to you and learning from you. We will build on this progress, sustain the changes we have worked so hard for and keep looking at how we can improve.”

The trust’s chief nurse, Joe Hague, added: “This rating provides important independent recognition of the progress we have made in the quality and safety of care.

“It’s an important milestone, but our responsibility now is to sustain these improvements and continue getting better. We will take confidence from this report while remaining focused on providing consistently safe, high-quality and compassionate maternity care for every woman, baby and family who relies on us.”