During a maternity inspection at The QEH in October, the independent regulator noted the department had undergone a series of significant changes since its last review.
The CQC report, which is published today (01.03.24), said that maternity services had been awarded a rating of ‘Good’.
Inspectors particularly noted an improvement in the culture of the service, that staff worked well together and felt respected, supported and valued. They stated staff engaged well with service users and that team members were clear about their roles and accountabilities and were supported to enhance skills.
People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment. According to the CQC, maternity leaders understood how health inequalities affected treatment and outcomes for women from different ethnic backgrounds and less privileged groups. They worked with local partners to identify quality improvements to enhance equity and equality.
Inspectors also found our maternity services to be well-led, though ratings for being safe still requires improvement. In the ‘safe’ category the CQC positively assessed safeguarding, cleanliness, infection prevention, assessing and responding to risk, However, they found areas such as mandatory training attendance needed to increase which had impacted the ‘safe’ score.
Maternity patient Sophie Reeve was full of praise for the care she received as she welcomed the arrival of her latest child – Leap Year baby Donny Zipfell – who was born yesterday (29.02.24) at The QEH at 9.43am weighing 7lb 4oz.
Mum Sophie who lives near Thetford said: “This is our fourth baby we’ve had at The QEH. The team have always been amazing and the midwives are very supportive and it was nice to have the same midwife throughout my pregnancy. Our consultant and anaesthetist were also brilliant. The tea and toast after the birth was the best!”
Commenting on the ‘Good’ CQC rating Esther Dorken, Head of Midwifery (Interim) said: “We are absolutely delighted the CQC inspectors found such a significant change in the culture in our service and the positive changes that make such a difference to the compassionate care our patients receive at The QEH.
“I am incredibly proud of the team here who have worked exceptionally hard to elevate standards. We have already implemented changes to ensure areas where we performed less well attain the standards that staff and patients should expect without exception.”
Chief Nurse Pippa Street said: “We are very pleased to have received this recognition from the CQC demonstrating the improvements that have been made and we are encouraged to continue to further develop services so that people giving birth here get the exceptional care we strive to achieve.”
The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity services inspection programme. This 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 and improvement locally and nationally.
The full report with detailed findings is published on CQC’s website
Ends.
Notes to editors:
Maternity services at The QEH include maternal and fetal medicine, outpatient department, maternity assessment unit, combined antenatal and postnatal ward (Brancaster), central delivery suite, a midwifery led birthing centre (Waterlily) and two maternity theatres. Between April 2022 and January 2023, there were 1598 babies born at the hospital.
Effective, caring and responsive were not included in the CQC inspection.
The overall rating for The Queen Elizabeth Hospital remains requires improvement.
For media enquires only, please contact Communications Team, media.enquiries@qehkl.nhs.uk or 01553 613216.
For all other enquiries, please contact QEH Switchboard on 01553 613613.
Click here to download the press release and photos.
QEH Media Hub 