MKUH Maternity Services have been rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following an inspection in March of this year.
Inspections took place at Milton Keynes Unisverity Hospital's maternity ward on 7th-8th March, inspecting the ward's services as part of a national programme of maternity inspections, aiming to inspect all maternity services in the country.
After reviewing services against a strict set of criteria, as well as speaking to staff and patients, maternity services at MKUH were rated as ‘Good’ overall, with the ‘Is the service safe?’ domain rated as good and the ‘Is the service well-led?’ section rated as outstanding.
There were several acknowledgements for why the Trust received this rating, including:
- Staff had training in key skills and 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.
- The service controlled infection risk well. Staff assessed risks to women and birthing people, acted on them and kept good care records. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.
- Leaders and staff actively and openly engaged with women and birthing people, staff, equality groups, the public and local organisations to plan and manage services. People could access the service when they needed it and did not have to wait too long for treatment.
Joe Harrison, Chief Executive at Milton Keynes University Hospital, said: “I am delighted our maternity services have been recognised as good by the Care Quality Commission. The team work incredibly hard to provide safe, personalised care for women and families across Milton Keynes with care and dedication.
“The service continues to develop and evolve to meet the increasing health demands of our growing city as we look to further develop the service in line with our New Hospital Programme plans.
“We know that there is still more to do and have integrated the recommendations that the CQC have made into quality improvement plans for maternity services – developed with service users and the Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) - so that every service user receives exceptional care.”
The CQC further made recommendations for improvement and the trust says it will be putting plans in place to facilitate these recommendations, as well as continuing to develop the service in line with the feedback that we receive from service users through a range of different channels, including the Friends and Family Test (FFT), the annual CQC maternity in-patient survey and through contacting the department directly.
Melissa Davis, Divisional Chief Midwife at MKUH, said: “I am hugely proud of our incredible multi-professional maternity team for the dedication, professionalism and compassion they show each day for those who access our maternity services.
“We pride ourselves on working collaboratively with our partners across the local maternity and neonatal system and co-producing our services with our Maternity Voices Partnership in Milton Keynes, to ensure the voices of those we care for are influencing our service. I am delighted that the CQC has recognised that in their report.”
Roxy and Temi, Co-Chairs of the Maternity Voices Partnership Milton Keynes, said: “We as the MVP are pleased to hear this good news and can testify to the hard work and commitment that the maternity staff have shown in making improvements.
“We have been working closely with the maternity team by sharing the feedback of service users' experiences and suggestions for changes. MKUH maternity service and the MVP work collaboratively to make a difference. There is a clear culture within the maternity services to proactively listen to and include the service users voice to make positive changes.
“The MVP are supported and actively involved in many processes, from interviews to reviewing patient information leaflets, ensuring that the service user perspective is considered in all aspects. MKUH recognises where further improvements can be made and actively works with us to improve the standard of care. We are proud and looking forward to continuing the good work to improve outcomes for all."
To find out how the Trust is improving maternity services, visit the website here.
To read the report in full, visit the CQC website here.
