Friendly, supportive staff praised in Maternity department

Inspectors have praised “friendly, supportive and helpful” teams for the safe and effective Maternity care they provide at Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) has retained its overall rating of “good”  for its Maternity Services following last October’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection.

Inspectors said patients felt safe and had good communication with staff who followed good Infection Prevention Control techniques. An excellent clinical pharmacy presence to support staff on the wards with medicine needs was also highlighted.

Inspectors found;

• Call bells were always answered promptly when people needed help or assistance
• Staff were friendly, supportive and helpful.
• Processes were in place around safeguarding and staff spoke positively about the Safeguarding Team and felt they could call it for support
• There was a positive learning culture at the Trust and staff spoke highly of this
• Women on a low income were able to access free bus travel to the hospital via a quick response code and could also claim back some other transport cost

They did, however, urge improvements in staffing levels to avoid delays in treatment and inductions of labour.

Tracy Palmer, Director of Midwifery and Neonatal Services at RWT, said: “I am absolutely delighted with the report. It clearly reflects the hard work staff put in to create a safe and caring environment.

“I am extremely proud of the care we deliver, and we will carry on working hard to ensure it remains of the highest quality.”

Andy Brand, CQC Deputy Director of Operations in the Midlands, said: “When we inspected Maternity Services at New Cross Hospital, we found a well-led service where mothers and babies received good care and had positive feedback to give on their birth experiences.

“People told us they felt safe and had good communication from staff. Staff also ensure that people’s journey through the different parts of maternity as their pregnancies progressed was smooth.

“We saw that leaders and staff had the knowledge and skills and to provide safe and effective care. Staff were knowledgeable about people in their care and the challenges the service faced. Leaders also held regular meetings to analyse risks such as reviewing admissions to the Neonatal Unit to keep people safe.

“Managers promoted a good safety culture where incidents were investigated, and learning was embedded to promote good practice and to prevent them from happening again. Staff spoke of feeling fully supported by leaders and were happy in their roles which had a positive knock-on effect on people’s care.

“However, we have told the Trust they need to improve their staffing levels as it did sometimes lead to delayed treatment. Delivery suite staffing was below the recommended numbers on both days of our inspection and there were consistent delays in the induction of labour whilst people awaited transfer from the Delivery Suite.

“Staff should be really pleased with the service they’re providing, and we will continue to monitor the Trust, to make sure women and people using the service continue to receive good care in future.”

The full report will be published on CQC’s website in the next few days.