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BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Sickness and bullying behind Yeovil maternity unit closure, MP claims
An MP has claimed high staff sickness rates at a maternity unit which has been temporarily closed were driven in part by District Hospital in Somerset announced its maternity unit would be closed for at least six months in May, attributing the closure to "high levels of sickness" among senior Tuesday, Yeovil MP Adam Dance told the House of Commons staff absences were "partly caused by a lack of support, and toxic work culture, and bullying from management".The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust said it would "continue" to speak with MPs about their concerns. Mr Dance told the BBC he is "really concerned" the unit will not the debate on Tuesday, minister for secondary care Karin Smith said local leaders had assured her it is "not intended to be permanent".Bridgwater MP Sir Ashley Fox said "mothers across Somerset will suffer" while the unit is after the debate, Mr Dance said he had been told finance issues were not the reason for the closure, but added: "If it's not down to money, why aren't they looking at getting locums [temporary staff] in?"He also questioned how the NHS trust would recruit staff for a service which is "shutting down"."I haven't seen any jobs advertised online, maybe I'm not looking in the right place but they should be accessible and easy to see," he told the BBC. Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, which will care for many of the women who would have given birth in Yeovil, was declared "inadequate" in a report by health watchdog Care Quality Commission last have previously described the hospital's maternity service as "traumatic, super hot and overcrowded".Mr Dance told the BBC he had seen an increase in women planning to have home births as they would not feel safe at Musgrove. "If something goes wrong - where are they going to go? Because having to get in a car to go 45 minutes to Taunton might be too long," he said. A spokesperson for the NHS Trust thanked Mr Dance for securing the debate, adding: "We had a discussion with MPs this morning to talk through and respond to their concerns and questions, and we will continue to do this." They also said everyone had been "given the opportunity to speak to their midwife about their choices for place of birth", and urged expectant parents to speak to the Trust, Somerset Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership about their concerns.
Sky News
15-05-2025
- Health
- Sky News
Two more maternity services in the UK issued with warnings this week
Two maternity services in the UK have been issued with formal warnings in the past week, with one set to be closed for half a year. Both Yeovil maternity services in Somerset, England, and Ninewells Hospital in Tayside, Scotland, have been issued with warnings from their respective countries' watchdogs. It comes amid a growing number of maternity scandals across the UK, with a report last year finding almost half of inspected services across NHS England were inadequate or required improvement. A landmark inquiry also found that good care for pregnant women is "the exception rather than the rule". Yeovil maternity services will close for at least six months after a warning from the Care Quality Commission, with women now being sent more than 25 miles away to Taunton. The closure comes after the CQC warned the services were failing to meet staffing requirements in the paediatric unit. The service will be closed from Monday at 5pm, and comes almost exactly a year after the maternity unit was rated "inadequate" by the CQC. The local Liberal Democrat MP, Adam Dance, called the closure "devastating". "They will be forced to use already stretched services tens of miles away and I, like many of my constituents who have already been in contact, are deeply fearful this could leave families in turmoil," he said. 72 hours to have labour induced In Scotland, NHS Tayside has been formally ordered to improve maternity services at Ninewells Hospital following an unannounced inspection. Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) first inspected Tayside in January, before returning a month later, after it raised a number of concerns, including that breastfeeding equipment was being cleaned in a sink with kitchen utensils. The latest report found some women faced delays of up to 72 hours to have their labour induced. It also found some staff were unsure of the location of emergency birthing medicine, as well as discovering that missing electrical leads meant only three out of five foetal heartbeat monitors were fully working. Donna Maclean, chief inspector of HIS, acknowledged that care was "compassionate" and "women we spoke with were complimentary of the care provided". But she added: "During the revisit, we were not assured that sufficient progress or improvement had been made with some concerns, and we formally wrote to NHS Tayside outlining areas of assurance required."
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Two more maternity services in the UK issued with warnings this week
Two maternity services in the UK have been issued with formal warnings in the past week, with one set to be closed for half a year. Both Yeovil maternity services in Somerset, England, and Ninewells Hospital in Tayside, Scotland, have been issued with warnings from their respective countries' watchdogs. It comes amid a growing number of maternity scandals across the UK, with a report last year finding across NHS England were inadequate or required improvement. A landmark inquiry also found that good care for pregnant women is "the exception rather than the rule". Yeovil maternity services will close for at least six months after a warning from the Care Quality Commission, with women now being sent more than 25 miles away to Taunton. The closure comes after the CQC warned the services were failing to meet staffing requirements in the paediatric unit. The service will be closed from Monday at 5pm, and comes almost exactly a year after the maternity unit was rated "inadequate" by the CQC. The local Liberal Democrat MP, Adam Dance, called the closure "devastating". "They will be forced to use already stretched services tens of miles away and I, like many of my constituents who have already been in contact, are deeply fearful this could leave families in turmoil," he said. 72 hours to have labour induced In Scotland, NHS Tayside has been formally ordered to improve maternity services at Ninewells Hospital following an unannounced inspection. Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) first inspected Tayside in January, before returning a month later, after it raised a number of concerns, including that breastfeeding equipment was being cleaned in a sink with kitchen utensils. The latest report found some women faced delays of up to 72 hours to have their labour induced. It also found some staff were unsure of the location of emergency birthing medicine, as well as discovering that missing electrical leads meant only three out of five foetal heartbeat monitors were fully working. Read more: Donna Maclean, chief inspector of HIS, acknowledged that care was "compassionate" and "women we spoke with were complimentary of the care provided". But she added: "During the revisit, we were not assured that sufficient progress or improvement had been made with some concerns, and we formally wrote to NHS Tayside outlining areas of assurance required." 👉 👈 Every year, eye-watering sums are spent on maternity clinical negligence, including £1.1bn in 2023.
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Yeovil District Hospital maternity closure could be for longer
A hospital's birthing service could remain shut for more than six months after a watchdog flagged safety concerns for babies and District Hospital is closing the unit on Monday 19 May at 17:00 BST after it was served a warning notice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for failing to meet staffing Melanie Iles, chief medical officer at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said it was "really hard to say whether it will only be six months, or not" as the hospital is "really struggling" with a shortage of senior said the closure was necessary, but there was no evidence individual children had been harmed. Dr Iles told BBC Radio Somerset: "I can't promise it will only be six months - we're working extremely hard to try and achieve that."Lucy Slater, from Ilchester, was due to give birth at Yeovil in eight weeks said the sudden closure meant she would have to travel for 35 minutes longer when she does go into labour. "We've got used to the people and place and now I'll have to go somewhere I've never been that is 45 minutes away rather than 10 minutes away," she said. Adam Dance, MP for Yeovil, raised the issue in the House of Commons on Wednesday during Prime Minister's Questions and said: "While the closure is initially for six months I have received no guarantee it will open again; this creates huge fear."In response, Sir Keir Starmer said he would ensure Dance got a meeting with the relevant minster "to get to the bottom of the issue".Hospital bosses said staff are writing to all pregnant women due to give birth at Yeovil, and that three or four babies a day are born there Iles said she was "confident" they would be able to manage increased numbers of births at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital and would "make sure there is appropriate staffing for the increased numbers of women and babies".Some Yeovil maternity staff will remain there to carry out antenatal appointments while others may relocate to Musgrove Park, Bath or Dorchester hospitals for the closure Iles also sought to reassure heavily pregnant women that the paediatric rotas are "well covered" for the next five days until the closures come in, and said it was "business as usual" at Yeovil until 17:00 on 19 May. Staff shortages She said there has been a "challenge" to have "the right senior staff who are experienced and present in the hospital at busy times"."We often have shortages in the number of doctors we have on our rotas," Dr Iles said, and the hospital has been "patching together" rotas but that was "not sustainable in the longer term"."Last week we were in a situation where we had four consultant doctors off sick at the same time, and three locums helping to cover the service. However good a locum is, it's not quite the same as doctors who are used to working in a team and in a hospital," Dr Iles said.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Banking hub offering face-to-face services to town
A new banking hub has opened, after a town was left with only a single building society for local residents. Liberal Democrat MP Adam Dance put in the request for the service to be introduced in Crewkerne, Somerset, and became its first customer. Alice Samuel, the town's mayor, said the benefit of the hub is "you don't have to travel out of town, it's there and it's accessible". Crewkerne is the latest town in the county to get the service, following Wellington and Frome. Ms Samuel said: "Lots of people don't feel confident doing online banking, or even speaking on the phone to banks, so you can actually speak to someone from your bank face-to-face." Cat Farrow, customer and strategy director from Cash Access UK, said: "The way people are banking is changing, for that reason banks have closed branches but the great thing about banking hubs is they can share facilities. "It's a much more efficient way of doing things." More news stories for Somerset Listen to the latest news for Somerset Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Sign in to access your portfolio
