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Chief executive of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust Dr Nnenna Osuji said:

“Today’s report from the Care Quality Commission, which follows their inspection of North Mid’s maternity service in May 2023, reflects many of the national challenges that are facing maternity providers all over the country, resulting in two-thirds of maternity services downgraded in their CQC rating.

“I acknowledge the findings of today’s report, which focuses heavily on triage, training and staffing. We have made significant improvements in all these areas in the six months since the inspection took place.

“I am particularly proud that so many of our nurses and midwives who undertake placements with us during their training choose to return to North Mid after they qualify, with 20 new colleagues most recently this Autumn, increasing our staff base. We have also made some important changes to bolster our triage service.

“I realise that today’s publication will be difficult for our staff and local community. I am and continue to be proud of the good in North Mid’s maternity service, and am confident that the improvements we have made in the past year will continue, as part of our forward-looking focus. I hope that local families will be assured that we are taking every opportunity to continue to improve, and will use this report to go further and faster.

“I remain committed to working with staff, regulators and other partners to objectively evidence the standard of maternity care we deliver for our local community, and look forward to welcoming the CQC back very soon to demonstrate this.”

Addressing the report’s content about stillbirth rates, Dr Osuji said:

“Any and every stillbirth is a tragedy. We strive continuously to reduce and mitigate any outcome of that nature. Based on the most recent MBRRACE data, our stillbirth rate is in keeping with maternity units of similar size and population demographics. Like all maternity services, we are working hard to reduce stillbirths and to address this and other inequities that unfairly impact our local community.”

On offering women choice of where and how they give birth, she added:

“We will continue to offer choice to local people about where they give birth, including where their pregnancy safely allows a low-acuity option. Wherever possible, we commit to this including the option of our midwife-led birth centre.”

Recent progress and improvements:

Since the CQC inspection of North Mid’s maternity service was undertaken six months ago (May 2023) we have:

• Reviewed and revamped our clinical assessment pathway for triaging patients – the revised approach we now use is in line with the ‘Gold Standard’ national triage assessment tool for pregnancy and is audited every day

• Improved training for staff – we have reviewed and invested more in our training programme to ensure it meets or exceeds national compliance standards against core competencies for midwives.  
• Increased staffing in our maternity services – we have recently appointed 20 new midwives.

Chief nurse Professor Lenny Byrne said: “Our local community has every right to expect that their local maternity service is going to keep them and their baby safe, and we are determined to live up to that expectation. This report from our regulator makes difficult reading – that’s beyond clear; but what matters most is that local people and the staff who serve them, live among them, and indeed are our local patients, can report that they get the care they need, that it’s safe, is carried out by trained staff, and that we listen to and take action on what we need to do better. I can assure our local population of our commitment to improving.”

Medical director and consultant paediatrician Dr Vicky Jones added: “I acknowledge fully that today’s report is likely to cause worry for local families. I want to assure everyone in our local area that we take very seriously what we’ve been told by the Care Quality Commission, and what this means for the service we provide. Since the initial feedback by inspectors in Spring, we have already taken forward a substantial number of improvements, but we know we have much more to do to ensure that every person, every pregnancy, every birth and every baby gets the highest quality experience that we owe to all our local people.”