BRIEFING Lister maternity unit rated ‘inadequate’ in latest CQC report

The maternity unit at Lister Hospital in Stevenage, which serves much of East Herts, has been rated ‘inadequate’ by the Care Quality Commission.

The CQC inspected the unit in October last year, focusing on two of the five areas it has the power to inspect – whether the service is Safe and Well-led.

Its report, which was published in January, rated both areas as ‘inadequate’, downgrading the unit overall from its previous rating of ‘good’.

The other three areas – whether the service is Caring, Effective and Responsive – were last inspected in July 2018 when they were rated as being ‘good’.

While the report praised some aspects of the unit’s work, it concluded overall that care there ‘falls short of what women should be able to expect’.

The CQC has issued a warning notice to the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, which runs Lister Hospital, which means it is legally required to make improvements.

Air ambulance crews begin first night flights

Helicopter teams at Essex and Herts Air Ambulance Trust can now fly at night after completing special training, and carried out their landmark first helicopter night mission in January.

In the past, the charity, which delivers a 24-hour pre-hospital care service to patients across the two counties, has only been able to attend night time emergencies using on the ground rapid response vehicles. But night flying has been an aim of the charity, as it enables it to attend incidents more rapidly. The crew have now completed training on a Night Vision Imaging System which, via the use of special

Among their findings, inspectors noted that ‘the service did not have enough staff to care for women and keep them safe’ and that, although training was provided to all staff, ‘steps were not taken to ensure everyone completed it’. They also said that staff ‘did not always follow best practice to protect women, themselves and others from infection’.

They found that some equipment was out of date, not checked regularly enough and was sometimes dirty, adding that steps must be taken to ensure more regular servicing and cleaning. However, the report did find that staff worked well together for the benefit of women and that there was ‘a strong culture for improvement, research and innovation’.

Trust chief executive Adam SewellJones said: “Our maternity team work incredibly hard and keep the interests of parents-to-be central to everything they do. I want to reassure you that our hospital remains a safe place to give birth. However, we take this report very seriously and our new director

The entrance to the maternity unit at Lister Hospital in Stevenage of midwifery has already led immediate and thorough action to increase cleanliness, and to ensure that our equipment is up to the required standard. We have a detailed improvement plan to address remaining issues and will report openly on our progress.

“We recognise the national shortage of midwives, however our

Fire and rescue service improves its performance

staffing levels are in line with other maternity units in the east of England and since the inspection we have recruited 17 more midwives.” night vision goggles calibrated to the visual needs of each individual, enhances the available light and allows pilots to see obstructions such as wires, pylons and buildings while flying in darkness and provides the pre-hospital care doctor and critical care paramedic with situational awareness during landing.

The hospital’s overall rating by the CQC has not changed, it is rated ‘requires improvement’.

You can read the full CQC report at cqc.org.uk.

The first night use of the helicopter was to attend a road traffic accident in Southend on the evening of Saturday 14th January.

Hertfordshire’s Fire and Rescue Service has improved its performance according to a report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

The report has upgraded the service from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ in two of the three areas it inspected last year. These three so-called ‘pillars’ were Effectiveness, Efficiency and People.

All three required improvement from the last report in 2018, whereas this time Effectiveness and People were rated ‘good’ although Efficiency was still marked as

‘requiring improvement’. Hertfordshire’s Chief Fire Officer Alex Woodman said: “I am extremely proud of the hard work, dedication and effort of our teams to strengthen the organisation and deliver improved services for our community.

“The recognition of this by His Majesty’s Inspector is welcomed by the entire service and affirms our resolve to focus further improvements on the areas of recommendation.”