Two whistleblowers described unsafe care while working at both facilities.
One experienced clinical staff member currently working in Leeds, on condition of anonymity, said the service was “totally broken” due to chronic understaffing and that the impact was that “women and infants are being left out of our care.” I can’t get the care I want,” he said. .
These concerns are echoed by former temporary staff member Lisa Elliott. She says she witnessed the “disruption” of care when she worked about 40 shifts as a maternity support worker in 2023. She said she witnessed “rude” treatment of patients by staff who showed a lack of empathy.
Lisa, who started working shifts at the hospital in 2020, attended a CQC inspection in 2024 and said she did not think the maternity service should be rated ‘good’. She said she raised concerns about the behavior of staff at the time, but they were not “adequately considered”.
Professor Phil Wood, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, told the BBC that the hospital would like to apologize to the women and families who shared their negative experiences.
He emphasized the center’s status as a specialist center caring for the “poorest babies” and said comparing LTH’s MBBRACE-UK neonatal mortality data with other hospitals was “difficult even in the same specialty”. “This is misleading,” he added.
CQC’s Interim Chief Inspector for Health, Chris Zikiti, said LTH’s maternity services had been, and would continue to be, subject to close scrutiny.
He added that the two hospitals’ maternity services were inspected last month “in response to concerns raised by families and risks identified through ongoing monitoring”.
The test results are expected to be announced soon.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said the government was determined to learn lessons from recent research to ensure women and infants receive “safe, individualized and compassionate care”.
They added: “We will help trusts that are failing maternity care to improve rapidly, and work closely with NHS England to train thousands more midwives to help trusts that are failing maternity care, during pregnancy and beyond, and work closely with NHS England to “I also intend to support women,” she added.
