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Sheffield maternity services rated 'inadequate'

Geograph A sign for the Jessop Wing Maternity HospitalGeograph
The Jessop Wing was inspected in March following concerns about safety and quality of care

Urgent action is being taken after maternity services in Sheffield were downgraded from "outstanding" to "inadequate".

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said The Jessop Wing maternity unit did not provide "the standard of care women should be able to expect".

It said inspectors visited in March following concerns about safety.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said it had "wasted no time" in addressing the issues raised.

CQC inspectors visited the labour ward, two postnatal wards, antenatal ward, admission triage area and the advanced obstetric care unit as well as speaking to staff and observing them providing care and treatment to patients.

Sarah Dronsfield, the CQC's head of hospital inspection, said: "Our findings were such that the ratings for maternity services across the trust have moved from outstanding to inadequate.

"Due to the concerns we found that needed addressing as a priority, we have imposed urgent conditions on the trust's registration which require immediate action in order to make sure people receive the care they are entitled to."

Since the inspection she said the trust had provided an action plan "detailing what they are doing to reduce these risks".

The CQC will monitor the trust "extremely closely" and say they expect to see "rapid improvements", she added.

Getty Images Child in hospitalGetty Images
The trust must now take action to improve services at the unit

Among the conditions imposed the trust must:

  • Ensure staff are suitably qualified, skilled and competent to care for and meet the needs of women and babies
  • Put the correct processes in place for investigating serious incidents, and make sure lessons are learned from them
  • Improve monitoring of the effectiveness of care and treatment provided to patients
  • Improve infection prevention and control

The CQC said inspectors had found a number of areas of good practice, including staff being "caring and focused" on the needs of women.

In a statement, the trust moved to reassure those coming to the Jessop Wing that they will "continue to receive safe, good care".

Chief executive Kirsten Major said: "I want to assure women coming into the Jessop Wing to have their babies that our maternity teams work incredibly hard every day to ensure their care is always the number one priority and whilst we are exceptionally disappointed with the findings of the CQC report, we welcome the external scrutiny and have wasted no time in responding to the actions which have been identified as necessary."

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