The hospital is run by Croydon Health Services NHS Trust and is a provider of maternity care for people living in Croydon and Southwest London.
We’re told the focused inspection was carried out to follow up on concerns received about long waiting times in maternity triage, poor communication from staff, and staff shortages, particularly in medical cover.
Following the inspection, the Care Quality Commission also served the trust a warning notice due to concerns about triage, staff training and appraisal, risk assessments and record keeping, equipment and environment checks, and leadership and governance.
CQC has downgraded the overall rating for maternity services at Croydon University Hospital from good to requires improvement, as well as for how safe the service was. The ratings for how well-led and caring remained good.
The CQC did not look at effective and responsive, these ratings remain from a previous inspection, when they were rated as good. The rating of Croydon University Hospital remains requires improvement.
Antoinette Smith, CQC deputy director of hospitals in London, said:
“When we inspected maternity services at Croydon University Hospital, we found many skilled and dedicated staff who women described as caring, compassionate and professional. However, safety had declined in some areas since our previous inspection and leaders must now focus on making the necessary improvements.
“Our main concerns were around triage and delays in the induction of labour process. The service didn’t have a dedicated midwife covering the maternity triage telephone line, which is not in line with national guidance. We also found significant delays in the induction of labour process. Many women waited more than four hours between admission and the start of induction. While the trust had an action plan in place, it hadn’t been fully implemented at the time of our inspection.
“Leaders needed to improve how some areas are managed, including risk assessments, records, equipment checks, and staff training. We were also concerned that some serious incidents weren’t always classified at the correct level of harm, which could make it harder for services to learn and improve.
“However, leaders recognised how health inequalities affect outcomes for women from ethnic minority and disadvantaged groups in their local population, and the trust had introduced a campaign specifically aimed at improving outcomes for Black, Asian and minority ethnic pregnant women.
“The trust had started to take action after our inspection, including setting up a dedicated maternity telephone helpline and launching a quality improvement project for induction of labour. However, we haven’t yet been able to assess the impact of these changes.
“We have shared our findings with the trust and will continue to monitor these services closely, including through further inspections, to ensure improvements are delivered quickly and women are kept safe.”
We have contacted the Trust for comment.
