果冻影院

Set up by the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee, the independent panel has piloted a new evaluation system, giving Care Quality Commission-style ratings on the government鈥檚 performance in meeting policy commitments on maternity services in England.

The objective evaluation, designed to enhance the select Committee鈥檚 core task of holding the government and ministers to account. Alongside the overall rating, the panel concluded progress on three of the government鈥檚 commitments on maternity services 鈥榬equire improvement鈥�, while a fourth commitment was rated as 鈥榠nadequate鈥�.

Further the panel concluded, none of the Government鈥檚 commitments can be achieved without ensuring that maternity services have the right number of staff, in the right place, at the right time and with the right skills.

Dame Jane, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee鈥檚 Expert Panel, and Professor of Medical Education at 果冻影院, said:

鈥淭his is the first evaluation of its kind, commissioned by the Health and Social Care Committee and carried out independently by a panel of experts. Using a CQC-style scoring system, we have rated the听Government鈥檚 overall progress on its maternity services鈥� targets as 鈥榬equires improvement鈥�. 听

鈥淥ur Expert Panel report covers in greater detail how far the Government鈥檚 maternity commitments have been achieved in key areas. Three commitments have been rated as 鈥榬equires improvement鈥� 鈥� maternity safety, continuity of carer, and safe staffing 鈥� while a rating of 鈥榠nadequate鈥� has been given to the commitment to provide all women with a personalised care and support plan.

鈥淲e鈥檝e also found persistent health inequalities experienced by women and babies from disadvantaged groups, with poorer outcomes across all of the commitments we considered.听

鈥淗owever, underpinning all this are workforce issues. Maternity services must have the right number of staff, in the right place, at the right time and with the right skills 鈥� without that progress will stall.鈥�

The panel鈥檚 first service evaluation has been published today, as part of a wide-ranging report by the Health and Social Care Committee on maternity safety in England; The Committee鈥檚 report also finds that improvements in maternity services have been too slow, and publishes evidence of a 鈥榙efensive culture鈥�, 鈥榙ysfunctional teams鈥� and 鈥榮afety lessons not learned鈥�.

Health and Social Care Committee Chair Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt said: 鈥淎lthough the majority of NHS births are totally safe, failings in maternity services can have a devastating outcome for the families involved. Despite a number of high-profile incidents, improvements in maternity safety are still not happening quickly enough. Although the NHS deserves credit for reducing baby deaths and stillbirths significantly, around 1,000 more babies would live every year if our maternity services were as safe as Sweden.听

鈥淥ur biggest concerns were around staffing and culture: staffing levels have now started to improve but we found a persisting 鈥榗ulture of blame鈥� when things go wrong which not only prevents people admitting that mistakes were made, but crucially, prevents anyone learning from them.

鈥淥ur independent expert panel gave an overall verdict of听鈥榬equires improvement鈥� which sends a strong message that the Government and the NHS need to redouble their efforts ahead of the Ockenden report into Shrewsbury and Telford and the Kirkup report into East Kent. Nothing less is owed to the families for whom听a birth was not the joyous occasion they had the right to expect.鈥�

Set up in August 2020, the expert panel, which includes policy specialists, clinical experts and patients, is tasked with collating and evaluating evidence to support parliament in holding the UK Government to account against its pledges on health and social care.

The panel鈥檚 independent and evidence-based reports will rate progress against each chosen target, using the scale used by the Care Quality Commission - Outstanding/Good/Requires Improvement/Inadequate. It will also make an overall rating of the government's progress towards its commitments in the chosen policy area. 听

Links

• 果冻影院 Medical School

Source

Media contact听

Henry Killworth

Tel: + 44 (0) 7881 833274

E: h.killworth [at] ucl.ac.uk