Stewart House
Established 1996
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The trust managing Nottingham's hospitals has been warned by independent inspectors.
Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors carried out a review of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs both the Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, and its leadership in July this year.
It says a warning notice has been served meaning the trust is required to it to "take action to improve corporate and clinical governance and oversight of risk".
The inspection comes as yet another blow to the trust, which also runs Ropewalk House, following the tragic deaths of babies at the trust's maternity unit.
In the last decade there have been 201 negligence claims in relation to maternity care, and more than £91m has been paid out in damages in costs to some of the families involved.
Independent investigators will now be looking into a number of serious incidents which happened in the maternity unit.
A CQC follow-up visit in May this year found that although improvements have been made, there was still more work to do.
Regarding the fresh concerns a spokesperson said: “We carried out an inspection of the trust’s leadership in July 2021. Following that inspection, the trust was issued with a warning notice requiring it to take action to improve corporate and clinical governance and oversight of risk, and to ensure a more positive, open and supportive culture across the organisation. We will report on the full findings from the inspection as soon as we are able to.”
Such warnings are issued when care falls below what is legally required, however it is still unclear if the warning notice relates to “continuing failure to comply with a legal requirement”.
If it does, the CQC may take further action.
Responding to the report, Rupert Egginton, deputy chief executive and chief financial officer at NUH, said: “We accept the CQC’s comments.
"Work is already underway to learn from the findings and make improvements so that the organisation is led as effectively as possible and we continue to provide world class care for our patients.”
The warning notice comes after NUH’s maternity services were rated inadequate in 2020 – and
NHS England and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which provides local healthcare services, also confirmed last month that a review dating back to 2016 will examine baby deaths at the trust.
Dozens of midwives are set to be recruited by QMC and City Hospital in the next few months.