The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has rated the maternity service at our Trust as ‘good’ following an inspection in April, which was carried out as part of the CQC’s national maternity inspection programme.
Comment from Diane Wake, chief executive of The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
“We are delighted that the Care Quality Commission has rated our maternity service as Good following an inspection in April. The service also moved up to Good in the areas of safe and well-led.
“This achievement is down to the commitment and determination of staff to improve care for women, people using the service and their babies, and we are pleased that the inspectors highlighted widespread improvement in the quality of care provided.
“The report notes how proud our staff are to work for the Trust and spoke highly of the supportive and inclusive culture with visible and approachable leaders.
“It also acknowledges how our staff are focused on providing the best possible care and are proactive in addressing health inequalities.
“Our maternity safety champions regularly review incidents and conduct frequent walk rounds to offer support to staff and it’s good to see the inspectors were reassured by this.
“Our staff will be pleased to see they have been commended for how they consider the needs of women and people using the service with protected characteristics.
“Following the inspection, our overall safe domain for the Trust has moved up to requires improvement.
“The report features our vacancy as 10.3 whole time equivalent (WTE). We have employed our third-year student midwives as well as continued development of our internationally educated midwives, which will mean we are fully established with midwives by October 2023.”
