MATERNITY services at Musgrove Park hospital have deteriorated and are now judged ‘inadequate’ following an inspection by health and care watchdogs.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has told Somerset NHS Foundation Trust it must make improvements to its three maternity services and has taken action to protect people, following inspections in November.

Maternity services at Musgrove Park Hospital, Bridgwater Community Hospital, and Yeovil District Hospital, were inspected in November as part of CQC’s national maternity services inspection programme.

The overall rating for Musgrove Park Hospital maternity services has decreased from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ and the rating for how well-led it is has also declined from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’. How safe it is also now judged as ‘inadequate’.

Following the maternity services inspection, the overall rating for the Musgrove Park Hospital has also decreased from ‘good’ to requires ‘improvement’.

CQC has issued a warning notice at Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil District Hospital to focus the trust’s attention to maintain rapid and sustained improvement in the care of people using the service.  

Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC’s deputy director of secondary and specialist care, said: “When we inspected maternity services at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, we found a deterioration in the quality of care being provided across maternity services at all three of the locations they provide them from. We also had particularly significant concerns with the care being provided at Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil District Hospital.

“Leaders weren’t supporting staff to learn from incidents or make improvements when things went wrong. Incident data seen by inspectors also didn’t always match up with information provided to the trust’s board. Leaders also weren’t effectively monitoring how the services performed, or taking action when risks needed to be escalated.  

“At Musgrove Park Hospital, we found poor systems and processes for assessing women and people using the service who needed medical attention. Inspectors noted the buildings were in poor condition and required regular maintenance which posed an ongoing challenge for the quality of maternity services they were able to provide.”

Peter Lewis, chief executive of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said: “These (reports) illustrate that we have fallen short of the standards we are expected to be delivering, and we want to say sorry to our families that use these services.

“We are committed to improve, so that we provide an excellent service that supports women, birthing people, and families in Somerset. We have made significant changes since the inspection and will continue to do so. 

“At Musgrove Park Hospital’s maternity unit, we have put in place a new evidence-based, standardised triage process to risk assess and prioritise care based on clinical need, and have reconfigured the ward to facilitate safe and effective clinical oversight of our service users. We immediately sourced emergency equipment at Musgrove Park Hospital.

“The CQC report for Musgrove Park’s maternity service highlights issues that are as a result of the poor condition of the building. We are planning to replace this as part of the national New Hospitals Programme, but have already made improvements specifically around safety and security.”