The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has rated maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as good, following an inspection in May and June.
Inspectors looked at the areas of safe and well-led in maternity services at St James’s University Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary. Following the inspection maternity services at both hospitals have been rated as good overall and good for being safe and well-led.
The inspection was carried out as part of CQC’s national maternity inspection programme. The programme aims to provide an up-to-date view of the quality of hospital maternity care across the country, and a better understanding of what is working well to support learning and improvement at a local and national level.
This is the first time maternity services at both hospitals have been rated as a standalone core service. Previously, maternity and gynaecology services were inspected and rated together.
The CQC recognised the following areas of outstanding practice:
- The service had a strong focus on health equity. The service actively worked with the Maternity Voices Partnership on a focus group to explore perceptions of maternity care and understanding of maternity information to inform improvements to the inclusivity of the service.
- The consultant midwife for health equity and a consultant obstetrician with a specialist interest in health equity worked with a media company on ‘Our Maternity Voices’, a film to capture the voices of those who were part of communities at greater risk or poor maternal and neonatal health.
- The Deputy Chief Midwifery Information Officer and a consultant obstetrician had worked with the trust IT team to create a maternity health inequalities dashboard using Patient Level Costing (PLICs) information.
- Prematurity midwives providing specialist care for women with risk factors for premature birth.
Inspectors also found the following during this inspection at St James’s University Hospital and Leeds General Infirmary:
- The service had enough staff to care for people and keep them safe.
- Staff had training in key skills and worked well together for the benefit of people using the service.
- The service controlled infection risk well.
- Staff assessed risks to people, acted on them and kept good care records.
- Medicines were managed well.
- The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
- Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills.
- Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work.
- Staff felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of people receiving care.
- Staff were clear about their roles and accountabilities.
- The service engaged well with people and the community to plan and manage services.
- All staff were committed to improving services continually.
The St James’s University Hospital report was published on CQC’s website on Wednesday 16 August.  
The Leeds General Infirmary report was published on CQC’s website on Wednesday 16 August.  
Prof Phil Wood, Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said today: “I am delighted that our maternity services have been rated ‘Good’ by the CQC. This is testament to the hard work of our teams at both sides of the city who are committed to providing the best possible care for our patients.
“This rating by the CQC gives confidence to patients and the public that the maternity services they can expect to receive here in Leeds are safe and well-led.
“It is great to see our teams recognised and in particular, the outstanding work we are doing here in Leeds to reduce health inequalities and improve maternity care for those in our local communities.
“Of course, there are areas for improvement and the report does highlight where further work is needed. These are all areas that our maternity team are aware of, and they are prioritising the work needed to make these improvements. We look forward to demonstrating further progress in future inspections.”