Maternity unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital rated as 'requires improvement'

Wednesday, 25 October 2023 07:00

An inspection of the maternity unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital has been carried out by the CQC.

Inspector rated the maternity service has been rated requires improvement.

Details of the areas in need of improvement are given in the report which also recognises that maternity services are well-led and highlights outstanding areas.

Commenting on the report, Neil Macdonald, Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "We would like to thank everyone working hard in our maternity service for what they do every day to look after the women, birthing people and babies in their care.

We are proud that the CQC recognised in the report published today that our maternity team is focused on the needs of those receiving care, promote equality and diversity and have an open culture where people using the service, their families and staff, could raise concerns without fear.

However, it is important to acknowledge that the CQC also found significant areas for improvement. The safety of those using our services is our priority and there are a number of actions required to make the necessary improvements. In the short term work is already underway to address the issues that have been raised including implementing plans to improve maternity triage, to recruit and retain more staff and to maintain supplies of appropriate equipment. In the longer term we will look at how we can address the challenges of improving the maternity environment in our current buildings.”

This report does not change the CQC’s overall rating for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which remains Good.