Publish date: 19 April 2024
Following a recent CQC Maternity Inspection, the Trust's full report is now available here on CQC's website.
The report provides the key findings from the inspection that took place in early Autumn 2023, and despite many positives detailed in the report, our maternity services and Leighton Hospital are now rated as 'requires improvement’. However Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust CQC rating remains at 'Good'.
Scott Malton (pictured), Chief Nursing Officer for Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said:
“As a Trust we continue to ensure that the safety of those in our care remains a top priority. Over the last six months since CQC visited our maternity services we have delivered our planned investment of over £1 million to continue to improve the quality and safety of services for our local population but also for our dedicated team of staff.
“The maternity service has made significant strides forward in recent months, we have invested in our people, recruiting additional members to our midwifery team as well as employing extra members of staff to free up time to enable our midwives to focus on delivering babies and supporting our local mums. We have also expanded services, bringing in additional members of staff to support work in our maternity theatres, alongside making improvements within our maternity triage and waiting rooms.
“We are incredibly proud of our dedicated staff, whose hard work, professionalism and commitment to caring for our local population is shown each and every day. As Chief Nursing Officer this pride extends to every single person who works at Leighton Hospital and is part of Mid Cheshire Trust.
"I do want to acknowledge the work of our maternity team, whose care for our local population was shown in the report, where inspectors identified that the service engaged well with the local community to plan and make improvements and worked with the local Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership. This focus on our local population was mirrored in the positive feedback we have heard through the recent CQC inpatient survey, where our results were better than most trusts in several key areas including mental health care, involving patients in decisions, hospital room cleanliness, and overall care for patients.
"We recognise that there is still more work to do, and we will carry on our journey of continuous improvement to provide the very best level of safe quality care for our community."
