Broomfield Hospital

Ratings - Maternity

• Overall

  Inadequate

• Safe

  Inadequate

• Effective

  Requires improvement

• Caring

  Not rated

• Responsive

  Good

• Well-led

  Inadequate

Our view of the service

Broomfield hospital Maternity Unit provides both consultant-led and midwife-led maternity services as part of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation trust. Broomfield provided data evidence of 4175 births from March 2023 to February 2024. The obstetric unit at Broomfield Hospital is a purpose-built unit located on the 4th floor of the hospital. The unit comprises of a Day Assessment Unit (DAU), a consultant-led labour ward, a midwife-led low risk birthing unit and a post-natal ward which includes a 4 bedded bay used for the transitional care of babies. Outpatient services include antenatal clinics and an ultrasound department. There is no separate antenatal ward; patients who are seen and/or admitted during the antenatal period are accommodated on the DAU. The consultant-led (high risk) labour ward comprises a 10 bedded delivery suite, 2 operating theatres, a 4 bedded recovery area where women are cared for following surgical procedures relating to childbirth and bereavement suite. Postnatal care is provided on a 20 bedded ward with 8 individual rooms and 3, 4 bedded bays, one of which is used to provide transitional care to babies requiring additional support but not requiring neonatal unit admission. This assessment included an onsite focused visit on the 26 March 2024 and 27 March 2024 of the maternity services at Broomfield Hospital. We continued to assess information pertaining to the risk assessments of labouring and birthing people and babies. The Broomfield assessment focused on the Maternity services, evaluating them based on five key criteria: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led. Following our assessment the overall rated reduced to inadequate and a notice of decision was sent to impose conditions under Section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act to ensure the trust took immediate action to keep women, birthing people, and babies safe.

People's experience of this service

During our assessment we spoke to women, birthing people, and families on DAU, triage, labour, and postnatal ward. They reported some delays in care, people told us the departments were busy and staff were working hard to meet everyone’s needs. Postnatal ward and DAU women, birthing people and their families had access to a communal kitchen area, showers, and bathrooms. People told us that they felt able to raise concerns to maternity staff and felt they were dealt with promptly. Call bells were accessible, and staff encouraged them to be used to call for assistance if needed. Women and birthing people told us they felt informed about their care, included in decision making and provided appropriate maternity information. They told us that consent had been sought prior to any procedures or treatment being commenced. Some women and birthing people told us their induction of labour or artificial rupture of membranes management had been delayed due to lack of staff and beds on the unit. People in DAU told us they had experienced delays waiting for senior doctors to reviews their care. Care plans were not always reviewed and timescales were not always clear. Some people awaiting elective caesarean section (c-section) were unhappy as they felt uncomfortable wearing hospital gowns in a busy waiting room leaving them feeling isolated and vulnerable. Mid and South Essex NHS Trust (MSE) maternity provision was rated “worse than expected” from the NHS Patient Survey Programme published February 2024. Although the results were not site specific these results have been considered as part of this report as MSE maternity services remains an outlier.