A BBC investigation has revealed that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists identified serious patient safety concerns within maternity services at the trust, but it had not been published. This dates back to 2016 and was discovered in a review of services by RCOG. Following a "number of serious clinical incidents".
the trust had noticed that: There was a lack of appropriate leadership; there were patient safety concerns around the lack of availability of consultants and undermining of staff was evident, mainly but not exclusively within midwifery.
In a statement, the health regulator in England, the Care Quality Commission said: "We liaised with the trust regarding the steps they were taking to respond to the review and address the recommendations of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists, and where we had concerns that the recommended actions were not being progressed fast enough, we called for improvements."
A spokesperson for the trust said the summary, recommendations and actions had been available "upon request" and shared with commissioners and regulators. An NHS England spokesperson said: "Throughout the pandemic, the NHS has safely delivered thousands of babies while keeping staff and patients safe, and the NHS announcement of an additional £95 million to boost maternity services will improve women's experience further.
"All independent reviews should be made available to relevant health commissioners and regulators...and [we] expect trusts to take prompt action to address appropriate recommendations."
