Staff shortages lead to eleven ‘red flag’ incidents at North Mid in first half of this year, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

The entrance to the maternity unit at North Mid

North Mid maternity services will look to boost quality of care after concerns over insufficient oversight and training were raised.

North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust reported that its maternity and neonatal services had only met eight out of ten required ‘safety actions’.

Meeting all ten safety and compliance actions, with clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) standards, is a national requirement for each maternity service.

CNST standards are a part of a financial incentive programme designed to enhance maternity safety within NHS trusts.

Interim director of midwifery at North Mid, Nicole Callender, said the two standards not met were around board oversight. Speaking at a trust board meeting yesterday (Thursday 8th ) she thanked the board for being able to present the latest report on services.

Nicole laid out the need to ensure “staff and women’s and birthing people’s voices were being heard at trust level”.

She said: “The CNST technical guidance stipulates that trust boards must have quarterly reports from the maternity service. The report must include details of the deaths reviewed, any themes identified and the consequent action plans.”

Another challenge highlighted were staff shortages. The report showed between January and June the trust experienced eleven “red flag incidents”.

A midwifery red flag event is a warning sign to review clinical activity and staffing acuity. Each of the eleven red flag incidents were put under “staff shortage”.

In response Nicole said “a number of midwives” were joining the trust, and added the recruitment vacancy gap was at a “fantastic” 8.7%.

She said: “The highest percentage we were vacant was 14-15%, so that’s a really important and good point to celebrate.

“Having said that, there are some challenges with staffing, so we’re not completely saying that we are compliant and that we have fixed everything.”

Nicole also highlighted that in order to align with this year’s CNST standards “additional training” was required across services, particularly around “birth trauma training and practical obstetric multi-professional training”.

She said: “We anticipate from a maternity service point of view that training is going to increase year on year. “

Following discussions, Nicole highlighted the “downward trajectory” of staff escalating incidents and staff shortages, and felt the trust was on the “right track”.

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