Nottingham University Hospitals Trust managers faced claims they are still “not listening” to patients and staff following an inspection report which rated maternity services as ‘inadequate’.
During Nottinghamshire County Council’s health scrutiny meeting on March 29, councillors questioned the pace of improvement at the trust, which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital.
Some reiterated calls for a public inquiry into dozens of baby deaths and injuries.
During Tuesday’s meeting (March 29) Rupert Egginton, Acting Chief Executive, Sharon Wallis, Director of Maternity, Keith Girling, Medical Director and Tiffany Jones, Director of Communications, presented information relating to the trust’s maternity improvement plan.
They also shared data with the committee which one councillor described as “frightening” – including the fact that only 54 per cent of staff recommended NUH as a place to work as of November 2021.
Mr Egginton also took the opportunity to apologise for when things “haven’t gone right”.
Speaking about the CQC’s involvement, he added that the trust has received a letter requiring further improvements by May 16 following an unannounced re-inspection earlier this month.
Councillor Sue Saddington, chair of the committee, (Con) said: “You are not listening to patients, you are not listening to staff.
“The fact that staff cannot recommend going into Queen’s Medical Centre is of great concern.
“Staff have spoken to me and broken down in tears because they are not listened to and don’t know who to complain to, because they daren’t.
“I have had so many emails from patients telling me the experiences they have had at the hospital. Quite frankly, I have sat and sobbed.
“I don’t feel that Queen’s Medical Centre is any safer today than it was a year ago.
“To hear patients are not being listened to and to receive emails from such sad cases, it breaks my heart.
“It wants a fundamental review, it’s the only way this will ever improve.”
The trust said improvements made so far include the establishment of a 24/7 Maternity Advice Line.
There has also been training around additional fetal monitoring and leadership development for senior midwives.
Sharon Wallis, Director of Midwifery, said: “I have been here since the end of June and it has certainly been a baptism of fire.
“I have been in tears many times around the stories I have heard from staff because we care about our services.
“Nobody comes to work to do a bad job and it is absolutely dreadful what has happened.
“I understand what has been said about the pace of change because I am constantly frustrated with that. But it has got to be led by the staff themselves to make those changes.”
She added that staffing is the “biggest challenge” and said that there is a rolling advert for recruiting midwives to the trust.
There is also a recruitment and retention specialist in place to boost maternity recruitment.
Ms Wallis added that student midwives will be automatically be offered a job this September when they finish their studies.
It comes after an ongoing local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) review ‘maternity incidents, complaints and concerns’ revealed the number of families who have come forward increased from 84 on 9 March, to 387 on 22 March.
Councillor Michelle Welsh (Lab) said: “It has taken parents standing up in a court of law and talking about their traumatic experience to even get to the point of having a review.
“I don’t believe that every woman who walks through your doors has a bad experience. My worry is that it’s a bit potluck.
“The fact that you come here and expect women in Nottinghamshire to be grateful that you’ve sorted out the fact that the heart machines in your corridors weren’t working, I find amazing.
“I’m led to the conclusion to say that women and babies are not always safe at NUH and this cannot go on.
“I remain shocked at the treatment that is going on within your departments.
“I don’t believe NUH is capable of making improvements. You’ve had years to do it and it’s not happened.”
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service after the meeting, Acting Chief Executive, Rupert Egginton, said: “We certainly had some very personal reflections from some of the councillors in the meeting.
“When we hear those things, it’s important for all of us to reflect on those issues.
“We don’t always get it right within the trust, we know that. When we don’t get it right we should apologise and we have done that.
“We know there’s a lot to do to improve our services, we want them to be the very best, that’s our aspiration.
“We have started on that journey and we are making improvements. There’s a long way to go and we recognise that.”
In response to the calls for a public inquiry, Mr Egginton said: “There is an independent inquiry already established in Nottingham [the CCG review].
“We need to see that do its work effectively. Our job is to support that review. “
