A leading figure at Nottingham's hospital trust went on to reassure grieving families that changes have already been made to improve the maternity department. Sharon Wallis, Director of Midwifery at NUH, said that lessons have been learned following the "harrowing" stories of the parents who lost their babies in hospitals.
She told Nottinghamshire Live that there are some "really clear things" that need to be changed, and the issues have been addressed in a plan of action designed by the trust. Representatives of the trust, including the newly-appointed chair Nick Carver, discussed the key points in a health scrutiny meeting at the Loxley House on Thursday (May 19).
It comes after the Care Quality Commission highlighted issues with an increase in stillbirths, staffing and its triage service after it visited Nottingham City Hospital and Queen's Medical Centre from March 1-4. In the letter addressed to acting chief executive Rupert Egginton, the CQC said it had concerns with maternity staff levels in general, specifically within the triage service at City Hospital and post-natal ward at QMC.
READ MORE: Nottingham hospitals 'let down' family as baby died just after 36 hours
"Concerns escalated within the triage service were not always acted on promptly," it reads, adding; "Women attending triage were not consistently reviewed within 15 minutes." However, Mrs Wallis said that improvements have already been made and the trust has set new targets despite no standards being set at a national level concerning triage.
However, the main issue remains staffing, she argued. "We are fishing in a small pond with very large trusts around us, and there is only a certain number of midwives out there. And we are trying to encourage our staff to stay with us as well.
"So there is a whole piece of work around recruitment retention, because that is the key to everything and that is not just midwives. That's doctors.
"It's support staff as well as administrators. So it isn't just around the midwives but that is our key focus because they're the ones that deliver the majority care."
She also said that "massive improvements" have been made since the last CQC inspection. Mrs Wallis added: "We are working with a very large trust that has different systems and processes that sometimes are a little bit clunky. Progress around digital and how we have that seamless flow of information has been worked on.
"We have made some massive improvements with our current system. But it is really exciting that at the end of the year, we should have a maternity clinical electronic system that's end to end from booking to discharge, which will enable us to provide lots of real time information for staff, and women don't have to repeat their journey.
"But it would also enable us to provide the data and audit evidence that we need. And again, that's the really crucial part."
More than 100 families who have experienced the 'same failures', through NUH maternity services, had sent a letter to Health Secretary Sajid Javid calling for an independent review, having expressed concerns over the current Independent Thematic Review. They said they had "no confidence" and thus called upon Mrs. Ockenden to herself investigate.
Asked whether their unending grief and concerns were addressed through the action plan, Ms Wallis said: "Yes, absolutely."
She described an inquest that she recently attended as "harrowing" and added: "I think that what was really humbling for me was that the families were really keen to work with us and we absolutely have to grasp, to hear their experiences and to make those improvements."
By the end of the year, the trust should have a maternity clinical electronic system that will follow the patient's process from booking to discharge. Mrs Wallis described this as a "crucial step".
Another "massive step forward" is that mums have now also been given access to neonatal services "at anytime". Additional training and support to staff have also been included in the action plan.
New communication channels have been introduced, easing access for the patient to receive information via Facebook. Even though the measure received 100 per cent positive feedback, Cllr Sam Webster went on to say that he does not trust a system which is ranked '100 per cent', questioning how representative that is.
