Is it safe for me to have my baby at Leeds Teaching Hospitals?
We want to reassure every family due to have their baby with us in Leeds and any new parents that we are absolutely committed to providing safe, compassionate care.
We deliver more than 8,500 babies each year and the vast majority of those are safe and positive experiences for our families. But we recognise that’s not the experience of all families. The loss of any baby is a tragedy, and we offer our deepest condolences to families who have lost their babies when receiving care in our hospitals.
Our priority now is on learning from these CQC reports and make the improvements needed.
Do you have enough midwives in your hospitals?
We have recruited 55 midwives since autumn 2024 after additional funding was agreed by the Board last year. We are currently 11 midwives short of our nationally recommended target of 367 but we continue to actively recruit to meet this standard. A further 35 newly qualified midwives are due to start work with us this autumn. We appointed additional midwifery leadership roles to support our clinical teams to deliver safe high-quality care to all our families.
Will you listen to me if I have a concern or complaint?
Yes, we are actively listening – your voice really matters to us. We always take complaints and concerns raised by our birthing people and families and staff very seriously. We and we are always looking for ways we can improve.
If you have a concern about your care at any point you can discuss it with the team providing your care, or you can contact the PALS team on 0113 206 6261 or email [email protected]
We work together with Leeds Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership (MNVP) to make improvements using feedback from the experiences of our patients. MNVP parent representatives regularly visit our wards and departments to gain feedback from families directly. Anyone wishing to get involved in the work of the MNVP can contact: [email protected] or join their Facebook group.
We are also holding listening events with families, and reviewing our complaints process to ensure we are listening and understanding our patients’ experiences, and working with them to identify ways to improve their care.
Can I change the hospital that I want to give birth in?
Moving your care to another hospital is entirely your choice, and we can support you if you wish to explore other options. You can ask to change the Trust or hospital at any point in your pregnancy and you have the option to choose a hospital or birth centre that is further away from where you live. Before you ask to transfer your care, you need to check that your chosen hospital, birth centre or home birth team can take over your care. Once you have done this, please contact your midwife at Leeds Teaching Hospitals so that they can provide you with information about sharing your notes with your new hospital.
How do I request my maternity notes?
If you would like to access your maternity health records or birth notes after you have had your baby, please complete an application form on our website and provide a copy of identification by email to: [email protected]. The link to the application form is here: Application form to access maternity health records or birth notes
What is a CQC report?
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. It monitors and inspects services to see whether they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
The CQC asks the following ‘key questions’ of each service:
- Is it safe? Are you protected from abuse and avoidable harm?
- Is it effective? Does your care, treatment and support achieve good results and help you maintain your quality of life, and is it based on the best available evidence?
- Is it caring? Do staff involve you and treat you with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect?
- Is it responsive? Are services organised so that they can meet your needs?
- Is it well-led? Does the leadership of the organisation make sure that it’s providing high-quality care that’s based around your needs? And does it encourage learning and innovation and promote an open and fair culture?
After each inspection, the CQC produces a report and publishes it on its website. The reports set out findings on each of the five key questions and include the following ratings:
- Outstanding
- Good
- Requires improvement
- Inadequate
You can find out more about the CQC here: Care Quality Commission