Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as ‘Good’ in maternity services, following a Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection, which happened in May.

The inspection, carried out by the CQCs national maternity services inspection programme, aims to provide an up-to-date view of the quality of hospital maternity care across the country and a better understanding of what is working well to support learning and improvement at a local and national level. This latest inspection covered the ‘safe’ and ‘well-led’ areas of the CQC questions.

The Trust’s overall Maternity Services have also been rated as ‘good’ – which remains the case since May 2020.

Krishna Kallianpur, Chief Nurse, said: “This is great news for the Trust and something we are very proud to announce. It is incredibly challenging for Trusts to reach this standard of care in maternity services and is testament to a lot of hard work by colleagues at all levels.

“I am particularly pleased that the CQC recognised and highlighted such a positive culture where colleagues feel respected, supported and valued. It’s important to all of us across the Trust to be able to raise concerns without fear and this, too, was raised as a positive with leaders being visible and approachable.

“Our goal is for continuous improvement and development, so working with organisations such as Derbyshire Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership and directly with our communities, I feel we can continue to learn and develop and continue to strive as well as celebrate this achievement together.”

The inspectors also recognised the leadership team’s skills and abilities of colleagues managing the service.

Dr Hal Spencer, Chief Executive, said: “I very much welcome this report and the findings of this inspection. It’s great to see that the CQC saw the service was there for people when they needed us and all colleagues were committed to improving to ensure people receive a high standard of care. This highlights again that we continue to do more and more to ensure we are recommended as a place to not only work but receive great care. It is a huge positive for Chesterfield Royal Hospital especially against the challenges maternity care is facing nationally.”

Inspectors found the following during this inspection:

• Leaders ran services well using reliable information systems and supported staff to develop their skills. Staff understood the service’s vision and values, and how to apply them in their work.
• Managers monitored the effectiveness of the service and made sure staff were competent.
• Staff worked well together for the benefit of people using the service, and understood how to protect people from abuse.
• The service controlled infection risk well.
• Staff assessed risks to people using the service, acted on them and kept good care records.
• Safety incidents were managed well and lessons learned from them.
• The service engaged well with people and the community to plan and manage services.
• Staff were focused on the needs of those receiving care.

Chesterfield Royal Hospital supports the marketing and economic growth of the town through Chesterfield Champions, a network of over 200 organisations across Chesterfield and North Derbyshire.