NEWCASTLE'S maternity services have been rated as 'requiring improvement' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

In January 2023, the CQC carried out an unannounced focused inspection of maternity services at the RVI as part of a wider programme of work they are doing across the country into standards of maternity care.

The team specifically looked at how safe and well-led the services were and their visit included the main delivery suite, post and ante-natal wards, assessment areas and clinics and the Newcastle Birthing Centre.

The CQC report states: "Staff worked well together for the benefit of women and birthing people, understood how to protect women and birthing people from abuse, and managed safety well.

"Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. 

"Staff mostly felt respected, supported and valued. They were focused on the needs of women and birthing people receiving care. 

Well-led has been rated as good and safe has also been rated as 'requires improvement' within the report.   

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Chief executive Dame Jackie Daniel said: "With such positive findings in the CQC report it is difficult to understand the resultant rating which we do not think is a fair reflection of the maternity service and dedicated care that our teams provide every day.

"The report describes how our staff work well together for the benefit of women and birthing people, how they managed safety well - focussing on the needs of those receiving care - and that everyone was committed to improving services continually.

"We are proud of our team for the dedication, professionalism and caring attitude that they show each day whilst supporting those in our care and that is reflected in other national benchmarking – for example in the CQC’s national maternity survey.

"For four consecutive years the Maternity Service has achieved all 10 of NHS Resolutions Maternity Safety Actions demonstrating an ongoing commitment to the highest standards of safety in maternity care provision.

"As a trust which also provides tertiary and quaternary (highly specialist) level care to women with complex medical conditions our neonatal and maternal outcomes are amongst the best in the country when benchmarked against peers.

"We are very disappointed with the rating applied to the service. Whatever the rating, our response will be to focus on learning and improvement as it is for any external or internal service review.

"The safety of women and birthing people and their children is of utmost importance to us all and we will prioritise listening and learning to ensure we can provide the high-quality care our patients deserve.

"Listening to people who use our maternity services is so important, as we completely understand that peoples’ experience can differ. This is why, in addition to our own improvement work, we work in partnership with our Newcastle Maternity Voices Partnership who provide another valuable way for us to hear the needs of those using our services," they said.