Blackwater Law successfully represented the family of baby Blake in making a midwife negligence claim after the community midwife failed to notice a severe medical abnormality.
Posted on 28th March 2023
Following its first standalone inspections last year, the maternity services at Harrogate District Hospital were found to need improvements.
CQC Findings
The inspections, carried out as part of the CQC’s national maternity services programme, were the first time that maternity services at Harrogate District Hospital were rated as a standalone service.
The hospital, which is run by Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, faced several issues around the staffing and safety processes.
The inspectors found:
- Staff numbers were found to be unsafe
- Regular checks on lifesaving equipment were not being completed
- Training and medicine management targets were not being met
- Governance processes were not always robust
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Sarah Dronsfield, CQC deputy director of operations in the north, said:
“When we visited maternity services at Harrogate District Hospital, we found staff were focused on the needs of those receiving care, and people could access the service when they needed it, but several improvements were needed across the department.
“On ward areas, inspectors found staff completed and updated risk assessments for women and birthing people and took action to remove or minimise risks. However, there was no clear system in place to identify or prioritise risks to people in the maternity assessment area which could have resulted in them coming to harm. However, following the inspection, an action plan has been developed by the trust to show what improvements they plan to make.
“Although staff understood how to protect women and birthing people from abuse, they didn’t always have training on how to recognise and report abuse which could put people at risk of harm and must be addressed.
Positive Feedback
As part of the report, the CQC identified positive hospital practices.
- The maternity services engaged well with women to manage services
- Risks were assessed and acted on with good care records.
Have you been affected by poor maternity care at Harrogate District Hospital?
If you or a loved one has suffered a result of poor maternity care administered by Harrogate District Hospital, you should speak to a birth injury solicitor about your options for possible recourse.
You may be entitled to make a no-win, no-fee birth injury or medical negligence compensation claim to help you secure the funding, or the treatments required to put things right.
