St. Thomas' Maternity Service Receives Good Rating from CQC

The maternity service at Lambeth's St Thomas' Hospital has received a good rating from the Care Quality Commission after an inspection undertaken in September 2022. Established in 2009, CQC regulates and inspects health and social care services in England.

The visit to St Thomas' was part of its national maternity inspection programme, which aims to get a better understanding of what works well to support learning and improvement at a local and national level and to get an up-to-date picture of the quality of hospital maternity care. 

The rating remains the same as it was at its last inspection and the service was also rated as good for being well-led, whilst requiring improvements for being safe. 

Findings from the inspection include: 

• staff had training in key skills, they worked well together for the benefit of women and understood how to protect women from abuse
• infection risk was controlled well
• safety incidents were well managed and used to drive learning
• leaders ran services well using reliable information systems, and they ensured staff were competent and supported to develop their skills
• most staff felt respected, supported and valued
• staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities
• the service engaged well with women and the community to plan and manage services, and staff were committed to continually improving services
• inspectors were assured feedback from women and families would be prioritised to improve their experience
• areas of outstanding practice were found in how staff are trained, the management of incidents and the bereavement care and facilities provided

Areas earmarked for improvement included staffing levels and waiting times for triage and assessment. The hospital says these have been reviewed and some recommendations actioned with immediate effect; for example, a new midwifery matron has been appointed to provide additional leadership within its medical assessment unit (MAU), as well as 4 obstetric clinical fellows to provide medical presence from 9am to 9pm.

The report was published on CQC's website on 9th December. You can read it here.