Praise for 'real life angels' as Scarborough Hospital's maternity service significantly improves
Scarborough Hospital has significantly improved the quality of its maternity services, according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The CQC has upgraded the ratings for maternity services at the hospital from inadequate to good following a two-day inspection carried out this spring.
Scarborough Hospital maternity unit is part of the family health care group and undertakes around 1,100 deliveries a year.
At York Hospital, the overall service rating was also improved from inadequate to good.
During a two-day visit to the hospital earlier this year, inspectors said there were “sustained improvements across multiple areas since the last inspection”, including strengthened incident management, safer and more consistent triage, up-to-date fire risk assessments, and improved maternity theatre environment and equipment.
Full compliance with baby tagging and more stable medical and midwifery staffing were also commended.
Women spoke positively about the care during pregnancy and consistently described staff at Scarborough Hospital as “very kind, super friendly, supportive, and helpful”, with feedback including phrases such as “very attentive,” “outstanding care”, and “real life angels”.
Much of the feedback highlighted the continuity of care provided over the nine-month journey, which women greatly valued, and women said staff remembered them, helping them feel recognised and supported through their care and reflecting strong continuity and personalised care.
According to inspectors, staff described a stronger learning culture and felt empowered to report safety events, reflecting improved psychological safety and more effective reporting systems.
Staff, teams, and services worked together to an “exceptional standard”, according to a recently published report.
CQC inspectors made recommendations for improvements at Scarborough Hospital’s maternity service after noting that “the environment was not consistently safe, and ongoing constraints continued to compromise timely access to care”.
Inspectors found that there were “operational risks in relation to maternity theatre flow and staffing at times of increased demand when women in labour needed to be transferred to main theatres for emergencies when the maternity theatre was in use”.
They also highlighted “avoidable fire safety risks” and said that “several fire doors were found wedged open, which was not in line with trust procedures”.
However, the CQC noted that fire risk assessments were consistently up to date, clearly assessed and documented, with no significant risks identified.
Gill Hodgson-Reilly, CQC deputy director of operations in the north-east, said: “When we inspected maternity services at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we were pleased to see significant improvements across both hospitals. 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’."
Director of Midwifery at York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sascha Wells-Munro OBE, said it was “a proud moment” for the maternity services, for the women and families cared for across and the multi-professional teams who work together every day.
She said colleague had “listened, learned and worked incredibly hard” to make the changes that were needed.
She thanked all members of the maternity team who “should feel enormously proud of what they have achieved” as well as the Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership and “every woman and family who has taken the time to share their experiences with us”.
”I want to assure all women and families that we will keep listening to you and learning from you,” she added.