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. We must ensure we have the right support in place to enable our staff to deliver safe and high-quality care to all our families, and we have a robust plan in place that will enable us to continue to improve and deliver high quality, safe care for the people of Leeds and beyond.
Steps we have already taken to improve our maternity services include:
- Recruiting 55 midwives since autumn 2024 after additional funding was agreed by the Board last year.
- A further 35 newly qualified midwives are starting work with us this autumn.
- We have appointed additional midwifery leadership roles to support our clinical teams to deliver safe high-quality care to all our families.
- Addressing the concerns around culture within our maternity services
- We held our first Maternity and Neonatal Stakeholder Event with over 80 people including service users, consultants, community partners, student midwives, and guest speakers. We shared a commitment to co-produce meaningful change with our diverse communities.
- We have increased the number of Freedom to Speak Up Champions, encouraging staff to report concerns.
- We have embedded regular ‘Time to Talk’ meetings for each staff group.
- We have monthly open meetings with the Chief Executive, the Chief Nurse and the Director of Midwifery and Nursing.
- We are improving our infection control and cleanliness
- Greater presence of matrons on our wards
- Increased visits and inspections to ward areas
- We are improving our medicine storage and management
- Full stock audit
- Comprehensive checks implemented
- We are improving patient equipment and facilities
- All fetal monitoring (CTG) machines are operational
- Planning is underway for postnatal ward bathroom refurbishment
- Two new resuscitaires have been delivered for our delivery suites
- Equipment repairs completed and new tracker to ensure timely responses to repairs
- New wall vinyls are planned as part of our work on health equity, reflecting voices, cultures and stories of our service users, and improving the environment and wayfinding for service users.
- We held an inclusive walk around maternity and neonatal areas at St James’s Hospital with a diverse group of patients including LGBTQ+ and BME service users and representatives – this identified the need for improved signage, visual displays and updated toilet facilities.
Other improvements include:
- We are establishing a Maternity and Neonatal Improvement Programme and Board which will have an independent chair and include people who have used our maternity and neonatal services, and staff
- We are 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
- A workforce review is underway to address pressures on staffing
- A long-term strategy to increase consultant workforce is in progress
- New Maternity Community Triage Line to support patients is now live
- Maternity assessment calls have been moved out of clinical areas to improve patient privacy
- New Personalised Care and Choice midwives are increasing support and access to Birth Reflections
- We are holding civility and inclusion workshops for staff
We will share our progress on this page and keep you updated about further improvements to our services.