Pembury Hospital Improvement

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has upgraded the rating of maternity services at The Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury from inadequate to good.

That follows an inspection in October which showed significant improvement.

This inspection was carried out to follow up on the progress of improvements CQC told the department to make at a previous inspection. At that inspection, CQC issued the trust with a warning notice to make rapid improvements to the safety of people’s care and treatment.

The CQC is the government's official inspector responsible for checking on standards of care.    

The trust has made significant improvements in several areas since the last inspection and have now met the requirements of the warning notice.  

However, there was still one breach of regulations involving delays in reviewing high-risk women and people using these services on the wards who were waiting to be induced.

The trust will submit an action plan showing what it is doing in response to these concerns and CQC will continue to monitor the unit to ensure these improvements are made, and people are safe while it happens.

Following this inspection, CQC have upgraded the service’s well-led rating from inadequate to good. Effective, and responsive have improved from requires improvement to good. Caring remains rated as good and safe remains rated as requires improvement.

The overall rating for The Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury remains rated as requires improvement.

This was the summary of the report on maternity services:

Date of assessment 23 October to 24 October 2024.

"We assessed service assessment group maternity at this location, to review the progress made against the warning notice that we served on the provider following the inspection in August 2023. We found that the service has made improvements and had met the actions of the warning notice.

"We inspected all 33 quality statements across the safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led key questions. We have combined scores for these areas with scores from the last inspection to give the rating.

"At this assessment we identified a breach of regulation: 12 Safe Care and Treatment. We rated the location as Requires Improvement. We found a breach of regulation in relation to: timely reviews of high risk women and birthing people on the wards who were waiting for their labour to be induced.

"Leaders aimed to ensure safe staffing numbers, but this was challenging. There were often staff shortages which meant staff were working under increased pressure to maintain safety. There were gaps in consultant cover for gynaecology which meant the obstetric consultant on-call was also required to cover. This often created delays for reviews of high-risk women and birthing people on the wards and those waiting for their labour to be induced. There were regular issues with flow and capacity.

"Oversight and management of governance was improving but more work was needed to ensure audit was used effectively to mitigate risks and equipment was not always checked.

"However, staff worked well together, and relationships were based on openness and honesty. Leaders were visible, responsive and inclusive and staff wellbeing was a priority. Medicine management and infection prevention and control had improved and there was improved and effective process to safeguard families.

"Leaders were more focused on equality, diversity and inclusion and encouraged innovation".