Maternity services at King’s Mill Hospital rated ‘good’ following CQC inspection

King’s Mill Hospital remains ‘outstanding’, while the overall rating of Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, which also manages Newark Hospital and Mansfield Community Hospital, remains ‘good’.

The inspection, which took place in November 2022 as part of a national review of maternity services, looked at two of the five areas the CQC uses to evaluate NHS trusts – well-led and safe.

The CQC did not look at the other three key areas, meaning caring remains ‘outstanding’, while effective and responsive remain ‘good’ from the previous inspection in 2018.

Phil Bolton, chief nurse at Sherwood Forest Hospitals, said: “We welcome feedback from the CQC because we’re keen to ensure that our maternity services continue to offer a high standard of care to patients and their families.

“We are incredibly proud of the many positive findings highlighted in this report. The ‘good’ rating rightly recognises the fantastic work our maternity colleagues do, day in and day out, despite the ongoing challenges placed on maternity services.

“I want to thank our staff who work hard to provide excellent, safe and compassionate care to our expectant and new parents and their babies.

“Continuous improvement is one of our top priorities and work is well underway to address the points raised, as well as others we have identified.

“We pride ourselves on setting incredibly high targets for training, and I’m pleased that our training levels have increased significantly since the inspection.”

Paula Shore, director of Midwifery and Head of Nursing, said: “We are immensely proud to be rated ‘good’ again for our Maternity Services. This CQC report is an important measure and reinforces the message to our expectant and new parents, and colleagues, about the Maternity Service provided at Sherwood.

“We continually strive to improve our services and know there are further improvements required to make Sherwood an even better place to work and receive care.”

Anyone who is due to give birth at King’s Mill and has any questions or concerns, can speak to their midwife for advice.