Nottingham trust must urgently improve “unsafe” maternity services, says CQC

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has taken urgent action to prevent mothers and babies from being exposed to the risk of harm at a major teaching trust.

Maternity services run by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust were downgraded to “inadequate” after an unannounced inspection.12 The regulator attached conditions to the registration of these services at Nottingham City Hospital and Queen’s Medical Centre, issuing a formal warning notice requiring improvements within three months.

The CQC’s inspections in October followed a coroner’s inquest into the death of baby Wynter Andrews, who was found to have died as a result of neglect, as well as 24 inspections by the Health Safety Inspection Branch (HSIB). The HSIB concluded in some cases that a …