Transforming Maternity Care

At St George’s, we are committed to providing high-quality maternity care to our patients. Following a recent inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), we have taken significant steps to address the areas of concern and make meaningful improvements to our maternity services.

This article provides as an update to the information we shared in early August 2023, outlining the actions we’ve taken since the release of the CQC inspection report in August this year.

Improving our governance and processes

Working with experts from south London Local Maternity & Neonatal System and NHS England, we made changes to follow best practices, particularly in how we review and report of perineal trauma and blood loss during delivery.

Serious Incident Procedures

We’ve looked closely at how we handle serious incidents and made sure that our procedures are in line with national guidelines. This helps make sure our patients are as safe as possible.

Maternity Safeguarding Policy

We have developed a dedicated safeguarding policy exclusively for maternity care to make it even safer for expectant mothers and their babies.

Balancing Health Equalities

Our maternity team are the first at St George’s to introduce Language line on wheels (PDF)’ which is a live, video translating service to maximise every opportunity for our non-English speaking women to be supported with a targeted approach specific to them and their needs.

Preceptorship Program

We know how important it is for new nurses and midwives to have good support in their first year on the job. Our new program for new staff members follows the guidelines set by experts in from the Capital Midwife Framework, and it’s received a stamp of approval for its quality.

Recruitment Efforts

We’ve worked hard to bring in over 20 new midwives to join our team. We have also began actively participating in an international recruitment program for Midwives to ensure a diverse and skilled workforce.

Reviewing Staff Levels

In collaboration with Birth Rate Plus, we’ve conducted a comprehensive review to determine the optimal staffing levels for midwives and support workers to deliver outstanding care. We are making necessary adjustments to align with these findings.

Supporting Our Staff

We’re dedicated to taking care of our midwives and nurses throughout their careers. We want them to feel respected and heard, and we’re working with Royal College of Midwives and our Professional Midwifery Advocates to help each of them reach their full potential.

We’re paying attention to the health and happiness of our maternity staff. It’s very important that they have a good balance between work and their personal lives, take breaks when needed, and have extra support when things get tough. We’re working with experts from NHS England to learn from their experiences in this area.

More on our maternity services 

At St George’s, we welcome over 5000 newborns into the world every year, and we’re always working to make our maternity services better.

In August 2023 alone St George’s Maternity delivered a total of 354 babies, with 48% being baby girls and 51% baby boys.

Our busiest day was August 29th, with 20 births, while the quietest day was August 28th, with only 4 births. The largest baby weighed 4920g, and the smallest was just 440g.

Most babies (203) were born in the Delivery Suite, followed by 135 in the theatre, 29 in the Birth Centre, and 2 babies born at home. This infographic provides a detailed overview of our maternity services throughout the month of August.

Further support

We’ve put in place many changes to address the recent concerns and make sure our patients and staff are safe and well taken care of.

We’re committed to providing high-quality care, and if you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to contact our maternity team at 0208 725 5946. We’re here to help!

For more information on our Maternity Services, please refer to this page.