Inspectors upgrade rating for maternity services

A government health watchdog has upgraded maternity services at Royal Derby Hospital following a wide-scale inspection.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has now said the service is "good'" after previously rating the department as "requires improvement".

But inspectors were critical of maternity services at Queen's Hospital Burton - part of the same hospital trust - and said they observed one woman waiting for 10 hours to see a doctor and records of other women who had self-discharged while awaiting assessment.

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) welcomed the inspection but said it accepted there was "still more work to do".

Maternity services at Queen's Hospital Burton were given an overall rating of "requires improvement" following an inspection of both sites in June 2026.

Royal Derby Hospital's maternity service was upgraded from "requires improvement" to "good" in all areas: safety, effectiveness, care, responsiveness, and management.

Queen's Hospital Burton's maternity service was rated "good" for effectiveness, care and responsiveness, and "requires improvement" for safety and management.

It comes three years after both maternity services "were rated "inadequate", prompting calls for an independent inquiry.

In 2024, UHDB said it "could and should have done better" after a review into more than 150 baby deaths found "care issues" which may have affected losses of life.

CQC inspectors said leaders and staff in Derby worked with people and healthcare partners to establish and maintain safe systems of care, in which safety was managed or monitored.

They added there was "continuity of care", including when people moved between different services.

Staff made sure medicines and treatments were safe and met people's needs, capacities and preferences, the CQC added.

Inspectors also found staff "assessed and managed the risk of infection, detected and controlled the risk of it spreading and shared concerns with appropriate agencies promptly".

Women told inspectors staff at both hospitals were kind and compassionate, a view also reflected in national maternity survey results.

Records showed staff carried out "thorough assessments and tailored care plans to individual needs", including for neurodiverse women and those with learning disabilities, mental health conditions or language barriers.

Inspectors in Derby said: "The service had made improvements and was no longer in breach of the regulations for safe care and treatment, staffing, and governance.

"The service now had enough appropriately trained midwifery and medical staff to keep women and babies safe, involved women to understand and manage risks, and had effective governance processes."

In Burton, inspectors said staff did not always safely and securely store human tissue, putting people at risk of infection.

Inspectors found placentae in a room accessible to people and unauthorised individuals.

The hospital was within the highest 25% of reporting organisations for third and fourth-degree perineal tears and postpartum haemorrhage of 1,500ml or more.

Inspectors found incidents were not always reported promptly, with some taking months or even years to be logged.

A review found reporting delays of up to 1,580 days, while incident reporting figures did not always match maternity staffing safety concerns flagged under national guidelines.

Inspectors found some women were not always directed to the most appropriate maternity service when arriving at or contacting triage.

Staff were said to be "not consistently following the trust's policy", meaning some women gave birth in triage rather than on the labour ward, the report said.

The trust said it had reminded staff of the correct procedures and provided assurances that maternity teams understood the process needed to keep women and babies safe.

The service "did not always make sure there were enough qualified, skilled and experienced staff" and did not always make sure staff received effective support, supervision and development, the CQC said.

Inspectors in Burton said: "The service had not addressed all the concerns found at our last inspection.

"However, there had been changes in some areas to improve the processes to keep women and babies safe."

Sarah Ivory-Donnelly, CQC deputy director of hospitals, secondary and specialist healthcare in its central region, said: "Following our inspection of both hospitals, we found sustained improvements had been made at Royal Derby Hospital, but some more work is still needed.

"While Queen's Hospital Burton has made improvements in some areas, we still had concerns.

"Leaders hadn't fully addressed incident reporting concerns identified at a previous inspection, with staff reporting that raising those issues internally had been actively discouraged.

"We also found there wasn't always enough staff to keep women safe at the hospital or within the community midwifery team.

"We are pleased that some solid progress has been made, but we have been clear where more improvements are needed and will be closely monitoring their progress."

The CQC found Queen's Hospital Burton was in breach of three regulations relating to staffing, safe care and treatment, and overall management of the service.

Royal Derby Hospital was in breach of two regulations relating to staffing and incident reporting, both relating to community services.

The CQC has told the trust to submit an action plan in response to the concerns raised.

Sarah Noble, director of midwifery at UDBH, said: "While the improved ratings evidence that we are an improving maternity service, and are focusing on the right things, we know there is still more work to do in all areas, particularly in community care, and at Queen's Hospital Burton, and we will not stop, because every family deserves the very best care now, and in the future.

"I am proud of our dedicated midwives, doctors and support teams, who are driving our improvement work - and we will continue to listen to families and act on feedback.

"We have taken these reports seriously and, in addition to the changes we have already made, our focus remains firmly on continuing our progress to improve the quality of care and experience we provide, inside both of our hospitals, and in the community."

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