Bradford's maternity services inspected after 'whistle blowing'

The health watchdog has inspected maternity services at Bradford Royal Infirmary following "whistle blowing concerns regarding safe care and treatment".

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) visited the site in Duckworth Lane, Bradford, for two days on May 15 and 16 to undertake an 'unannounced inspection' after receiving numerous distressed correspondence about the ward. During this visit at the trust, which is a teaching hospital that sees 6,000 babies born each year, inspectors focused on the neonatal and maternity wards.

On Wednesday, November 20 CQC published its findings - and the hospital has been revaluated as 'requiring improvement'. This is a grade lower than it's previous rating of 'outstanding'.

READ MORE: Martin Lewis says council tax payers could be due £174 back from bills

READ MORE: Bradford man in court after Dutch teenager takes own life

Inspectors said: "We received a number of anonymous whistle blowing concerns regarding safe care and treatment within the assessment service group for maternity services. We undertook an unannounced responsive focussed inspection. "

Inspectors found that neonatal services at the hospital were "outstanding" in the areas of caring and well-led, and were marked as ‘good’ in the areas of safe, effective and responsive. But for maternity services inspectors found overall it 'requires improvement' and areas of effective and responsive also need to improve.

Inspectors said the challenges they saw were in regards to staffing and management, but also destruction of medicines. In the report they said: "In our assessment of the neonatal service, we found that safety was prioritised staffing levels and skill mix were managed effectively; there were safe systems and pathways in place and safety incidents were managed well and lessons were learnt from them.

"In our assessment of the maternity service, we found that safety was prioritised and involved staff and women using the service and their families and there was a culture of safety and learning."

Sheila Grant, CQC deputy director of operations for the north, said: "Before our inspection at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, we had received some concerns about the care and treatment people were receiving in medicines, neonatal and maternity services. However, when we inspected these three services, we found the concerns were unsubstantiated and people using the services spoke positively about their experiences of care.

"In neonatal services, we found staff were providing exceptional care and treatment to people. Safety and continuity of care was consistently a priority for families and their babies, so they received the best possible experience during a difficult time. In this service we were pleased to see an open and honest culture, and managers regularly praised the hard work and commitment shown by staff.

Get all the latest and breaking Bradford news straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter here.

"Staff in medical care showed compassion towards people. People told us they felt included in their care planning and were positive about their experience. Leaders had also created a culture of safety and learning from incidents, to help prevent them from happening again.

"In maternity services, we found there were ongoing improvements, and people were positive about their care, praising their midwives and saying they would recommend them to others.

"The trust should look to learn how they can extend the excellent practice we found in neonatal to their other services. We will continue to monitor the trust and will return to check on progress."

Rachelle Mahapatra, an expert medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing families affected, said: “This latest report from the CQC once again highlights the need for improved care within the UK’s maternity services.

"The investigation into Bradford Royal Infirmary’s maternity unit came about as a result of a number of anonymous whistleblowing concerns, which in itself is worrying considering the Duty of Candour regulation that came into effect in 2014 putting a responsibility on health providers to be open and transparent. Today’s report has sadly confirmed that the service is not performing as it should be.

“Given it’s a teaching hospital with thousands of babies born there every year, it’s vital that any necessary improvements are made to ensure all new mums and babies receive the level of care that’s expected. To therefore hear that there is evidence of the trust taking such action is welcomed.

“However, there’s clearly more to be done and through our work we see too often the devastation that families can be left to face as a result of poor maternity care.”

The latest inspection comes after an internal investigation into the deaths of two babies in the neonatal unit during a bacterial outbreak in 2021. Last year Dr Max McLean resigned as chairman of Bradford Teaching Hospitals, claiming the trust failed to properly investigate those deaths and 'covered up' a string of failures.

This summer NHS England announced it was taking enforcement action against the trust, saying it had concerns about its governance. The trust has previously said it is working to resolve matters.