Hampshire maternity units have too few staff to keep women and babies safe, says regulator

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that it must make improvements to its maternity services, after a surprise inspection found that hospitals did not have enough staff to keep women and babies safe.

The findings, published on 28 January, relate to the trust’s maternity services at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital1 and Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital,2 which were inspected in November 2021 after the regulator became aware of staff whistleblowing, patient complaints, and information from …