Source · CQC inspection

Royal Stoke University Hospital

Provider University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust Type NHS Healthcare Organisation Region West Midlands Last inspected 19 Mar 2025

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

Good

Current CQC assessment

Single Assessment Framework

From 2024 CQC rates services through ongoing assessments rather than comprehensive inspections.

Requires Improvement Assessed 19 March 2025

The service is not performing as well as it should and we have told the service how it must improve.

The service is performing well and meeting our expectations. The trust have met their section 29a warning notice and have made significant improvements since our last inspection.

Ratings by service

Maternity

Good

Oct 2024

Urgent and emergency services

Requires Improvement

Feb 2024

Regulatory breaches & enforcement

Current-framework "must do" equivalent

Breaches of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, stated verbatim in the CQC assessment.

Warning notice Overall

We found significant improvements during this inspection and the trust have met their Section 29a Warning Notice requirements.

· 28 Mar 2025 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

This assessment was a focused follow up inspection following a section 29a Warning Notice back in 2023.

· 28 Mar 2025 · CQC source

Warning notice Overall

The trust have met their section 29a warning notice and have made significant improvements since our last inspection.

· 19 Mar 2025 · CQC source

Earlier inspection findings

pre-2024 framework · 6 must-do 2 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 service must ensure that systems are in place to ensure effective triage and escalation processes are in place to reduce risk of patient harm.

Regulation: Regulation 12(2)(b)

⚠ People were not always able to access the service when they needed it without having to wait longer than the trust targets and as recommended in national guidance. There was a lack of embedded processes to triage and prioritise care and treatment for women and birthing people who attended the …

Must-do action 2 of 6

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure staff are up to date with maternity mandatory training modules, including safeguarding adults and child protection training.

Regulation: Regulation 12(1)(2)(c)

⚠ Not all staff were up-to-date with their mandatory training, including safeguarding adults and child protection training, against a trust target of 95%.

Must-do action 3 of 6

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure that staff complete regular skills and drills training.

Regulation: Regulation 12(1)(2)(c)

⚠ Staff did not always have training in key skills, to ensure safe treatment of women and birthing people. The service did not provide information on how many staff had completed multi-professional simulated obstetric emergency training, including skills and drills training.

Must-do action 4 of 6

Must do

Safe

The service must ensure the environment used to care for and treat service users is adequate for the needs the women and birthing people using them and that any identified risks are mitigated.

Regulation: Regulation 12(2)(b)

⚠ The design of the environment was not always suitable to meet the needs of women and birthing people. Equipment was not always available for use leading to delays in treatment for women and birthing people. Women and birthing people waiting areas were not visible to staff and checks were not …

Must-do action 5 of 6

Must do

Well-led

The service must ensure systems or processes in place operating effectively in that they enable the registered person to assess, monitor and mitigate the risks relating to the health, safety and welfare of service users and others who may be at risk. In particular risks identified with current maternity triage processes and effective oversight such as emergency equipment checks.

Regulation: Regulation 17(2)(b)

⚠ Staff did not always follow trust guidance to identify and escalate associated risks to women and birthing people. Leaders did not have effective oversight and there was a risk improvements were not always identified or made when needed. Not all emergency equipment was in date, and there was limited oversight …

Must-do action 6 of 6

Must do

Well-led

The service must ensure persons employed in the provision of a regulated activity received training, professional development, supervision, and appraisal as was necessary to enable them to carry out the duties they were employed to perform.

Regulation: Regulation 18(2)(a)

⚠ Staff mandatory training did not meet trust targets, and staff did not always follow processes as outlined in guidance. Staff did not always receive annual appraisals, with approximately 60% of all staff groups having completed their yearly appraisal at the time of inspection. These were improvement requirements stipulated as part …