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Sky News
3 hours ago
- Health
- Sky News
'Significant risk' posed to women and babies at two NHS hospitals in Leeds, regulator finds
Maternity and neonatal services at two Leeds hospitals have been rated inadequate over safety issues, the NHS regulator has said. An investigation by the Care and Quality Commission (CQC) said maternity services at Leeds General Infirmary and St James's University Hospital have fallen from an overall rating of good to inadequate after unannounced inspections in December and January. Whistleblowers, service users and their families raised concerns to the CQC about the quality of care for mothers and babies at the two hospitals - both part of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The regulator found breaches in several areas across the hospitals and their departments, including dirty areas in maternity wards that put people at risk of infection, medicines being stored unsafely, and issues around a "blame culture" that meant staff stayed quiet about concerns. At both Leeds hospitals' neonatal services, the CQC found leaders had not ensured adequate staff levels with the right qualifications and skills, there was no designated private space for breastfeeding, and equipment was not secured safely. Ann Ford, the CQC's director of operations in the north, said the concerns raised "were substantiated, and this posed a significant risk to the safety of women, people using these services, and their babies as the staff shortages impacted on the timeliness of the care and support they received". She added that while staff were working hard to provide good care, "leaders weren't listening to them" when they identified areas of concern. Ms Ford also noted that babies were transferred between the two hospitals "when it wasn't safe for them to do so". The CQC said the two hospitals' neonatal services were inadequate, as they were rated as standalone services for the first time. The overall rating for Leeds General Infirmary was downgraded from good to requires improvement, and St James's University Hospital remains rated as requires improvement. The overall rating for the trust remains rated as good. Last year, a parliamentary inquiry found there was "shockingly poor quality" in maternity services, and good care was "the exception rather than the rule". Former health minister Maria Caulfield told Sky News at the time that maternity services had not been where they should be and apologised to mothers who had been affected. 2:02 How has NHS trust responded? Professor Phil Wood, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the CQC findings "have highlighted significant areas where we need to improve our maternity and neonatal services, and my priority is to make sure we urgently take action to deliver these improvements". "I want to reassure every family due to have their baby with us in Leeds and any new parents that we are absolutely committed to providing safe, compassionate care," he added. "We deliver more than 8,500 babies each year and the vast majority of those are safe and positive experiences for our families. But we recognise that's not the experience of all families. "The loss of any baby is a tragedy, and I am extremely sorry to the families who have lost their babies when receiving care in our hospitals." Prof Wood said the trust has already started making improvements to its services by recruiting 55 midwives since last autumn, while a further 35 newly qualified midwives are due to start later this year. More midwifery leadership roles have also been appointed to support clinical teams, he added.
BBC News
6 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Manchester care home 'left resident smelling of urine'
A nursing home where one resident was left "smelling of urine" and others were not helped to eat has been placed in special Parks Care Home, in the Gorton area of Manchester, was rated inadequate across the board by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).Alison Chilton, from the CQC, said the regulator expected to see rapid improvement after the "totally unacceptable" findings, which included five breaches of legal Health Care, which runs the home, has been contacted for comment. 'Performing badly' Ms Chilton said: "It was concerning to see that poor leadership and ineffective risk management had led to people being placed at harm in a place they call home."Inspectors from the CQC visited the home, which looks after up to 120 adults living with dementia and other physical disabilities, between February and visit came as a follow-up to one held in 2024 after which they warned of poor risk assessments, storing of medicines and inadequate staffing levels. Inspectors have now taken action to place the home in special measures after finding the service had failed to improve and was "performing badly" in all areas. 'Horrendous and filthy' Among the issues noted was a rise in infectious illnesses among found that staff levels were "insufficient" to meet the needs of those living there with many patients not being helped to relatives told the CQC staff had spent no time with their loved ones, with some describing poor hygiene practices with residents left in the same clothes for relative told inspectors that their loved one "often smelled of urine" and "sometimes had on other people's clothes".Inspectors found the environment in the home was not safe, with damaged wardrobes, floors and radiators set to a dangerous relative told the agency her loved one's toilet was left "horrendous and filthy" while inspectors found some bedroom floors "felt sticky and unclean" with bedding in some cases found Chilton said many residents were not supported to eat at meal times, no adjustments were made to solve language barriers and staff were often "too busy" to help those in confirmed the CQC had "begun the process of taking regulatory action to address the concerns".She said Advinia Care Homes Ltd would have the right to appeal. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
BBC News
8 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Safety concerns see Abode care home in Poulton put in special measures
A Lancashire care home has been put in special measures over "significant shortfalls with how the home was being managed".The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected Abode in Poulton-le-Fylde in April to follow up on concerns about its management and "people's safety".The home, on Moorland Road, was found to have uneven flooring and a missing window restrictor, and someone who required a mobility aid was seen using window ledges to move around.A spokeswoman for the home said they were "working closely" with the CQC and other professionals to improve and "meet their needs". 'See rapid improvements' "We want to reassure families [that] no clients were harmed, or put at risk during the works required by the CQC, which have now all been completed," the spokeswoman home, which is run by Abode Healthcare Ltd, provides care for up to twenty-two people and those living with notices warned it to make "significant improvements" around the safe care and treatment of residents, its management and the safety of the premises and its equipment. Inspectors found:The home was not clean and infection control process were not always safePeople were not always treated with kindness and compassionStaff didn't safely manage medication, including controlled drugs, and there were discrepancies in people's medicines records putting them at riskStaff didn't always follow infection prevention practices to keep people safe However:People were generally positive about the quality of their care and said they felt safeThey felt the staff team worked well together to ensure they received thecare and support they neededStaff supported families sensitively and with compassion when a loved one diedLinda Hirst, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said: "We have told leaders where we expect to see rapid improvements and will continue to monitor the home closely to keep people safe while this happens." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
The Guardian
9 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Two Leeds hospitals' maternity services rated inadequate over safety risks
The care of women and babies at two Leeds hospitals presents a significant risk to their safety, the NHS regulator has said, after the preventable deaths of dozens of newborns. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) demanded urgent improvements to maternity services at Leeds general infirmary and St James's hospital as it downgraded them to 'inadequate'. A BBC investigation this year found that the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers may have been preventable at the two hospitals between January 2019 and July 2024. The hospitals, run by Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust, are the latest to be engulfed by a maternity scandal that has revealed catastrophic failings in Nottingham, Shrewsbury and Telford, Morecambe Bay, east Kent and others. The downgrading of maternity and neonatal services in Leeds follows unannounced inspections by the CQC in December and January. Ann Ford, a director of operations at the CQC, said it had received concerns from staff, patients and families about safety and staffing levels at the two hospitals. She said: 'During the inspection the concerns were substantiated, and this posed a significant risk to the safety of women, people using these services, and their babies as the staff shortages impacted on the timeliness of the care and support they received.' Inspectors found dirty areas on the maternity wards of both hospitals, unsafe storage of medicines, a 'blame culture' that left staff unwilling to raise concerns, and short-staffed units. On the neonatal wards, which care for the most vulnerable newborns, the CQC found they were understaffed and infants needing special care were being transported unsafely from one hospital to another. A freedom of information request by the BBC revealed in January that the NHS trust had identified at least 56 baby deaths that may have been preventable from January 2019 to July 2024, made up of 27 stillbirths and 29 neonatal deaths, which are deaths within 28 days after birth. In each case, a trust review group had identified care issues it considered may have made a difference to the outcome for babies. Sir Julian Hartley, the head of the CQC, was the chief executive of Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust for 10 years until January 2023, meaning he was in charge when many of the preventable deaths took place. The parents of a newborn girl who died after multiple failings at Leeds general infirmary in January 2020 questioned the CQC's ability to carry out an independent inspection, given Hartley's previous role. The regulator said it has 'robust policies in place to manage any conflict of interest'. Prof Phil Wood, the chief executive of Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust, said: 'These reports have highlighted significant areas where we need to improve our maternity and neonatal services, and my priority is to make sure we urgently take action to deliver these improvements.' He said the trust was improving whistleblowing procedures for staff and had recruited 55 midwives, leaving it 11 short of the national target. Wood added: 'I want to reassure every family due to have their baby with us in Leeds and any new parents that we are absolutely committed to providing safe, compassionate care.'
BBC News
14 hours ago
- Health
- BBC News
Leeds maternity services now 'inadequate' after inspectors act on parents' concerns
Maternity services at two Leeds hospitals have been downgraded from "good" to "inadequate" by the healthcare regulator, because their failings posed "a significant risk" to women and from staff and patients around quality of care and staffing levels were substantiated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) during unannounced inspections at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (LTH) NHS regulator has now issued a warning notice which requires the trust to take immediate action to improve. Neonatal services have also been downgraded from "good" to "requires improvement".Over the past six months, the BBC has spoken to 67 families who say they experienced inadequate care at the trust, including parents who say their babies suffered avoidable injury or death. We also talked to five whistleblowers who said the previous CQC "good" rating did not reflect response to the CQC downgrade, LTH said it had committed to improving its maternity and neonatal services at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and St James' University Hospital. 'At risk of avoidable harm' During its December 2024 and January 2025 inspections, the CQC found official regulation breaches relating to risk management, safe environment, learning following incidents, infection prevention and control, medicines management and of concern highlighted in the maternity units at both hospitals included: People being "not safe" and "at risk of avoidable harm" - while investigations into incidents, and points raised from these to enable learning, were not always evidentBabies and families not always being supported and treated with dignity and respectLeadership being "below acceptable standard" and not supporting the delivery of high-quality careStaff being reluctant to raise concerns and incidents - because "the trust had a blame culture"Staff, despite being passionate about their work, struggling to provide their desired standard of care because of staffing issues LTH provided evidence to the CQC showing it had reported 170 maternity "red flag incidents", indicating there had been staffing issues, between May and September CQC's findings also highlighted staffing concerns in neonatal services at both hospitals, with a shortage of qualified staff to care for babies with complex coming autumn, the trust says 35 newly qualified midwives are due to start work and it has also appointed additional midwifery leadership regulator will be monitoring the trust's services closely, including through further inspections - says the CQC's director in the north of England, Ann Ford - to make sure patients receive safe care while improvements are implemented."We would like to thank all those people who bravely shared their concerns," she said. "This helps us to have a better picture of the care being provided to people and to focus our inspection in the relevant areas." One family who told the BBC they believe their child would have survived had they received better treatment is Amarjit Kaur and Mandip Singh Matharoo, whose baby was stillborn in January CQC report highlights "how inadequate the service is, which leads to patient harm", they told us."Unfortunately, it's too little too late for our daughter Asees and us, but we hope that this will trigger serious change within the system and take the concerns of patients using the service more seriously."Fiona-Winser Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after what an inquest found to be a number of "gross failures", described the CQC's findings as "horrific"."The concerns we have been raising for five years have been proved true," she says. But she believes the CQC has been slow to act."The CQC inspected Leeds in 2023 and somehow rated them as being good. Let's be clear these problems haven't just appeared in the last two years, they are systemic."In response, the CQC said the 2023 inspection had been part of a national maternity inspection programme focussing specifically on safety and leadership, which found some areas for improvement, but also identified some good practice."As the independent regulator we are committed to ensuring our assessments of the quality and safety of all services are accurate and reflect the experiences of the people that use them," added Ann Ford. If you have been affected by the issues in this story, you can contact the BBC Action Line here All 67 families who have spoken to the BBC want an independent review into the trust's maternity services - and a group of them have asked Health Secretary Wes Streeting for it to be led by senior midwife Donna Leeds families also joined other bereaved parents from across England this week to urge Mr Streeting to hold a national inquiry into maternity safety - he is yet to make a executive of LTH, Prof Phil Wood, said in a statement: "My priority is to make sure we urgently take action to deliver these improvements."The trust is committed to providing "safe, compassionate care", he added, and has already started making improvements, including recruitment, and addressing concerns around culture."We deliver more than 8,500 babies each year and the vast majority of those are safe and positive experiences," he said. "But we recognise that's not the experience of all families." Do you have more information about this story?You can reach Divya directly and securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +44 7961 390 325, by email at or her Instagram account.
