NNUH maternity best practice highlighted in CQC national report
Our maternity services have been highlighted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for best practice in a new national report.
The regulator has published a series of online resource materials aimed at sharing good practice and encouraging improvement in NHS hospital maternity services which sit alongside a new report that presents the findings from its national maternity inspection programme.
Our maternity services, which were rated as ‘Good’ following an inspection in November 2023, have been highlighted in the CQC’s latest report for good practice in managing safety incidents.
The report said: “The trust moved to the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) on 1 September 2023 and leaders triaged all incidents daily and RAG (red, amber, green) rated them in alignment with PSIRF guidance. Any incidents that were of moderate or severe harm, required further information or met national priorities were presented by the divisional weekly incident group to discuss the appropriate response and identify any lessons learned. Cases were then escalated to the trust complex case review group, as required.”
“Leaders told us an incident report was completed following every massive obstetric haemorrhage greater than 1.5 litres, all 3rd and 4th degree vaginal tears and any unanticipated admissions of newborns to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. All incidents had a case review by the investigation lead. If there were care issues or moderate or severe harm formal duty of candour was always completed, and the mother/family were always provided with an immediate debrief. Managers investigated incidents thoroughly and applied the Duty of Candour.”
The CQC have also highlighted trusts where they found good practice for leadership and culture, triage processes and procedures and healthcare equity.
Stephanie Pease, Divisional Midwifery Director, said: “It is fantastic that the CQC have highlighted our proactive learning culture and approach to managing incidents in this online resource. We are certainly not being complacent after our services were rated Good by the CQC and we continue to make improvements to provide the best possible service to our community.”