Source · CQC inspection

Wythenshawe Hospital

Provider Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region North West Last inspected 28 Jul 2023

Overall rating: Requires Improvement  View full CQC report

Domain ratings

Five CQC key questions
Safe
Requires Improvement
Effective
Good
Caring
Outstanding
Responsive
Requires Improvement
Well-led
Requires Improvement

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 6 must-do 6 should-do

Must-do actions (6)

Legal requirements based on regulation breaches identified during inspection.

Must-do action 1 of 6
Must do
Safe
The trust must ensure they assess and do all that is reasonably practicable to mitigate risks to women, birthing people and newborns. Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(b)
Regulation: Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(b)
⚠ Staff did not always assess, monitor nor manage risks to women, birthing people and babies. Opportunities to prevent or minimise harm were missed as the service did not operate effective and timely triage processes. The service did not facilitate timely access to appropriate birth settings for women and birthing people, …
Must-do action 2 of 6
Must do
Safe
The trust must ensure they deploy enough sufficiently skilled and experienced staff to appropriately assess and care for women and birthing people and mitigate risks in a timely manner. Regulation 18(1)
Regulation: Regulation 18(1)
⚠ The service did not always have enough maternity staff with the right qualifications, skills, training and experience to keep women safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. Staffing levels did not always match the planned numbers putting the safety of women and birthing people and …
Must-do action 3 of 6
Must do
Safe
The service must ensure staff are up to date with maternity mandatory training modules and that staff complete regular skills and drill training. Regulation 12(1)(2)(c)
Regulation: Regulation 12(1)(2)(c)
⚠ The service did not ensure all staff completed mandatory training and were up-to-date, and not all staff completed regular multi-professional emergency skills and drills training.
Must-do action 4 of 6
Must do
Safe
The service must ensure there are sufficient quantities of appropriate equipment, including fetal and maternal monitoring equipment and bilirubinometers, to ensure the safety of women, birthing people and babies. Regulation 12(1)(2)(f)
Regulation: Regulation 12(1)(2)(f)
⚠ Staff did not always have access to enough suitable equipment, including sufficient CTG machines, up-to-date fetal monitoring equipment, pulse oximeters, and bilirubinometers, to keep women, birthing people and babies safe.
Must-do action 5 of 6
Must do
Safe
The service must ensure staff carry out effective monitoring of women, birthing people and babies during labour, including use of ‘fresh eyes’ in line with guidance. Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(b)
Regulation: Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(b)
⚠ Staff did not always know about nor deal with specific risk issues, such as VTE assessments. Audits showed poor compliance with effective monitoring of women and birthing people during labour using continuous CTG, including the 'fresh eyes' approach.
Must-do action 6 of 6
Must do
Well-led
The service must assess, monitor and improve the quality and safety of the services provided in a timely way. Regulation 17(2)(a)
Regulation: Regulation 17(2)(a)
⚠ Leaders did not always operate effective governance processes, and action was not always taken to address risks in a timely way. Incidents were not always graded appropriately, and issues in triage and elective pathways had not been fully addressed at pace. The risk register was not always effective, and actions …

Should-do actions (6)

Recommended improvements to enhance service quality.

Should-do action 1 of 6
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure premises and equipment are kept clean and in good repair to prevent, detect and control the spread of infection. This includes but is not limited regular cleaning of birthing pools in the birth centre.
Should-do action 2 of 6
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure staff carry out effective monitoring of women, birthing people and babies during labour, including use of ‘fresh eyes’ and intermittent auscultation in line with guidance.
Should-do action 3 of 6
Should do
Well-led
The service should ensure that incidents are appropriately graded to ensure they can assess, monitor and improve the quality of services to women and birthing people.
Should-do action 4 of 6
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure medicines are stored, checked and managed in line with national and local guidance.
Should-do action 5 of 6
Should do
Well-led
The service should continue to address issues and concerns using quality improvement initiatives and ensure they can evidence the impact of improvements made.
Should-do action 6 of 6
Should do
Well-led
The service should continue to complete audits in line with the audit plan and keep the plan updated.

Location details

CQC ID: R0A07
Local authority: Manchester
Region: North West

Inspection report

Type: Location
Date: 28 July 2023
Rating: Requires Improvement
Actions: 6 must-do 6 should-do
AI-extracted 3 Jun 2026