Both maternity care units at Nottingham’s two main hospitals have been downgraded to “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
It was in response to the deaths of Wynter Andrews and Harriet Hawkins at the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital in 2019 and 2016, for which the coroner’s review found the care to be the leading cause of death. The CQC ran an unannounced inspection in October, after the families called for action to be taken.
The report, released on Wednesday, found that there were a number of issues, including low staffing and inadequate training. Inspectors were told that “there were not enough staff to provide safe care”.
The inspection also raised other internal issues for the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. They were given warning notices regarding concerns over IT systems and documentation of risk assessments.
Wynter Andrews was delivered by caesarean section on 15 September at QMC, but died shortly thereafter. Although a court heard concerns over her death, no action was taken. A recent inquest, however, ruled that Wynter’s death was “a clear and obvious case of neglect”.
Harriet Hawkins was delivered stillborn at Nottingham City Hospital in early 2016, nine hours after her death. An external review of the case found that there were 13 failures in her case and that her death was “certainly preventable”.
Some of these errors are an important omission of information on antenatal advice, failure to take full clinical history, delay in applying appropriate foetal monitoring, and failure to follow the Risk Management Policy for maternity. Sarah and Jack Hawkins, who both worked for the trust as a senior physiotherapist and a consultant, are currently in proceedings to a large settlement with the trust.
