East Kent baby deaths: Trust 'needs to improve safety'

East Kent Hospitals NHS Trust, where 15 babies have died since 2011, has been told it still needs to improve safety.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said junior midwives were working alone and senior doctors were not always available to assess high risk patients.

The trust could face enforcement action if improvements are not made quickly.

The trust, which runs Margate's QEQM Hospital and the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, said improvements had been made.

The inspections were carried out in January and February this year.

They follow a series of failings which came to light during the inquest into the death of Harry Richford, who died seven days after being born at the QEQM hospital in November 2017.

A coroner ruled his death had been "wholly avoidable" and recorded a narrative verdict, saying that it was "contributed to by neglect".

A BBC News investigation subsequently uncovered more preventable baby deaths at the trust after a number of families came forward.

The trust is already facing a possible criminal prosecution and the government has ordered an independent review, due to start next week, into the circumstances of maternity deaths.

Inspectors said that although they had found a number of "green shoots of improvement" there was still work to be done, especially in antenatal services.

The antenatal clinic in outpatients at the William Harvey Hospital was "poorly maintained", they said.

"Our inspectors found junior midwives, without the experience or knowledge to escalate complex emergency situations, working alone in day care," it said, adding that senior doctors were sometimes not available to assess high risk patients.

The report also said matrons had too many responsibilities and were unable to drive improvements as a result.

The maternity department was rated as "requiring improvement", the CQC said.

Improvements were needed before services could be described as safe and well-led but inspectors said services were also effective, caring and responsive.

The trust's chief executive, Susan Acott, said the improvements and positive work cited was "a testament to the hard work" put in by the maternity and obstetric teams.

"We know we have much more to do," she added.

She said staffing levels in the antenatal triage and day care service had been improved, the trust was reviewing its management processes and had introduced a safety system.

Gill Walton, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, said: "There is an urgent need for actions to be completed so safety is not compromised and this needs to happen at board level within the trust.

"Safety must be the absolute priority and the basis on which all care is delivered and on which all decisions are made."

Harry Richford's grandfather, Derek Richford, said it was disappointing that the trust still had not made the necessary changes.

Mr Richford said the CQC report came more than two years after Harry's death.

"Surely the lessons should have been learnt by then."

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