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St Austell Hospital - Penrice Birthing Unit

Provider Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region South West Last inspected 27 Feb 2023

Location rating: Requires Improvement  View location on CQC

Location ratings by domain

Five CQC key questions

Ratings held for this CQC location under the inspection framework, last inspected 27 February 2023. Ratings extracted from individual reports are shown separately below.

Safe
Requires Improvement
Effective
Requires Improvement
Caring
Good
Responsive
Good
Well-led
Good

Most recent report indexed for actions

The date and rating here are from an individual report, not necessarily the location's latest assessment. Report ratings are extracted with AI; verify the original PDF.

Type: Location
Date: 27 February 2023
Rating extracted from this report: Requires Improvement
Actions indexed: 2 must-do 7 should-do

Read this inspection PDF

AI-extracted 3 Jun 2026

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 2 must-do 7 should-do

Must-do actions (2)

Legal requirements based on regulation breaches identified during inspection.

Must-do action 1 of 2
Must do
Safe
The service must ensure that there is a full risk assessment for the level of emergency equipment at Penrice birthing unit. Regulation 12(2)(a)(b)
Regulation: Regulation 12(2)(a)(b)
⚠ Staff didn’t have access to adult resuscitation equipment at Penrice birthing unit. Following the inspection the trust told us they planned to fully risk assess the lack of access to a defibrillator at the Penrice birthing unit site.
Must-do action 2 of 2
Must do
Safe
The service must ensure staff complete daily checks on emergency equipment. Regulation 12(2)(e)
Regulation: Regulation 12(2)(e)
⚠ Staff carried out daily safety checks of specialist equipment most of the time. However, there were four gaps in daily checks in October 2022, one gap in September 2022 and one gap in August 2022.

Should-do actions (7)

Recommended improvements to enhance service quality.

Should-do action 1 of 7
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure staff complete regular birth pool evacuation training and baby abduction drills at Penrice Birthing Centre.
Should-do action 2 of 7
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure there is clear documentation of how women and birthing people meet the criteria for using the free-standing midwifery-led units for care in labour.
Should-do action 3 of 7
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure compliance with use of the situation, background, assessment, recommendation (SBAR) tool improves.
Should-do action 4 of 7
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure staff sign and date all records.
Should-do action 5 of 7
Should do
Safe
The service should ensure that there are effective processes for learning from incidents at birth centres.
Should-do action 6 of 7
Should do
Well-led
The service should ensure all staff receive a yearly appraisal.
Should-do action 7 of 7
Should do
Well-led
The service should consider improving how information is displayed on how to give feedback and make a complaint about the service.