The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has upgraded the rating of maternity services at Dorset County Hospital (DCH) from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ following an inspection.
An inspection was carried out in May to follow up on the progress on improvements the CQC recommended at a previous inspection. Inspectors recognised that significant improvements in several areas had been made since their last inspection and the requirements of their recommendations had been met.
Following the inspection, the CQC has upgraded the service’s well-led and safe ratings to good. The domains of effective, caring and responsive were not inspected and retain their previous rating of good. The overall rating for Dorset County Hospital has also been upgraded to good.
Nursing and midwifery leads at DCH are pleased that the hard work of staff to make improvements has been recognised by inspectors.
Chief Nursing Officer for Dorset County Hospital and Dorset HealthCare Dawn Dawson said: “I am delighted that our maternity service has been rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission following their recent inspection. The rating reflects the way in which our dedicated, professional, compassionate teams provide safe, high-quality care for our women and birthing people and their babies. We are not complacent and will continue to listen to feedback to build on the good practice already in place.”
Director of Nursing for DCH Jo Howarth said: “We are incredibly proud of our maternity teams for this well-deserved recognition. In a national climate where maternity services are being closely examined, this rating is a testament to the hard work and resilience of our staff, and their unwavering focus on delivering high-quality care to women and families in Dorset. We know this isn’t the case for all and remain committed to further enhancing maternity care and ensuring that every woman receives the safest and most supportive experience possible”.
DCH Director of Midwifery and Neonatal Services Jo Hartley said: “The improvements identified by the CQC team are a reflection of the dedication of everyone in the maternity team to ensure families using our service receive the highest quality of care. The support we have received from our maternity improvement advisor has been invaluable and we look forward to continuing our improvement journey.”
The report will be published on CQC’s website.
Members of the DCH maternity services team pictured on the unit. Photo: Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust