The Care Quality Commission (CQC) found unsafe staffing levels at the unit at Basildon Hospital throughout August. As a result it ordered urgent improvements, but an inspection on 18 September revealed that the changes had not been made, reported the BBC.
Now, under its powers under the Health and Social Care Act, the CQC has told the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basildon hospital, that it has until next Monday, 9 November, to bring in the necessary changes to make improvements.
The document, sent by the CQC on 7 October, and seen by the BBC, puts the trust on notice that it has to "implement an effective governance system", among other measures.
The unit was rated inadequate in June, 2020. By August the CQC said lessons had not been learnt following the death of Gabriela Pintilie in February 2019. Ms Pintilie, 36, lost six litres of blood while giving birth to her daughter and the Essex coroner said there had been delays, confusion and a lack of leadership during the delivery.
Leigh Day solicitor Suzanne White represents a family whose baby suffered brain damage during delivery at Basildon hospital.
Suzanne said:
“It is a shameful reflection of the care at a maternity unit that an urgent safety notice has to be issued. One would have hoped that the death of a patient would have been enough to prompt the changes that were clearly urgently needed.
“However, now that it has come to this, and we are faced with yet more stories of poor and dangerous care in maternity units, we see how absolutely necessary is the current Commons Select Committee Maternity Safety Review instituted by its chairman Jeremy Hunt.
“Let us hope that the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust is able to force the vital improvements ordered at Basildon hospital maternity unit.”
Originally Published By Leigh Day, November 2020
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