Latest news with #NHS_Tayside
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."
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Patient safety concerns found at Scottish maternity unit
Staffing shortages and delays in assessing expectant mums are among a series of patient safety concerns found with maternity services at Dundee's Ninewells concerns were identified during the first of a new programme of unannounced inspections of maternity units by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).The safety watchdog, which also praised frontline staff for their compassionate care, made 20 requirements for improvement at Ninewells. NHS Tayside said it had taken on board all of the recommendations and developed action plans to address them. There have not been any routine inspections of maternity units in Scotland until now, although they have been included in wider hospital inspections or been subject to specific introduction of routine, unannounced inspections was one of the key recommendations of an independent review that followed a spike in the deaths of newborn Ninewells inspection took place in January but inspectors made an unscheduled second visit the following month because of the immediacy of their concerns. The inspectors found:Delays within the maternity triage department and a variation in how women were assessed by staffStaff unsure of both the location of the emergency medication for birthing and the process for accessing itDelays to the induction of labour process of up to 72 hours for some patientsEquipment missing leads meaning only three of five fetal heartbeat monitors were in full working order across the unit's five labour roomsA 33% shortfall in the number of more experienced midwifes required with evidence that newly qualified midwives were stepping in to fill this gap Elsewhere in the HIS inspection report it was revealed that staff training was under pressure due to the maternity unit's workload and high levels of sick leave. Inspectors also found a disconnect between staff and senior managers regarding staffing and patient safety issues, with some workers telling them it was "challenging to always maintain patient safety when [the] skill mix within the team was not optimal". The maternity services inspection for Ninewells resulted in nine areas of good practice being identified, three recommendations and 20 requirements. 'Immediate improvement' required Donna Maclean, chief inspector at HIS, said: "During our inspection of the maternity services we saw staff providing compassionate and responsive care to women and their families and women we spoke with were complimentary of the care provided."However, as a result of concerns identified during our inspection, that required immediate improvement, we carried out an unannounced revisit."The concerns related to variation in practice to assessing women within maternity triage and to staff access and awareness of retrieval of emergency medication within the maternity triage department."She added: "Other areas for improvement include assurance of safe staffing, fire safety issues and the maintenance of the hospital environment."Maternity units in England are already inspected by an independent watchdog and in 2023 it was found that two thirds were not safe enough. 'Positive, good practice' NHS Tayside's Executive Nurse Director, Simon Dunn, said the report highlighted areas of "positive, good practice" and standards of care which patients and their families have recognised as "extremely positive".He added: "We will always embrace the opportunity to participate in improvement initiatives and receive feedback on the standards of care we deliver."Our clinical teams have taken on board all of the recommendations and developed action plans to address these. "Safe standards of care are at the heart of everything we do and therefore we have ensured our action plans keep our patients at the centre of our improvement work."
