City hospitals told to improve maternity care immediately

Two hospitals in Leeds have been told they must make immediate improvements to their maternity and neonatal services after a damning inspection.

- by James Connolly

Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) and St James's University Hospital - which are both run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT)- were visited by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) following complaints from whistle-blowers.

As a result, maternity services at both hospitals have been downgraded from 'good' to 'inadequate' overall, as well as for the categories 'safe' and 'well-led'.

For the categories 'effective' and 'caring', both hospitals have been rated as 'requires improvement' - although they were rated good in the 'responsive' category.

It comes less than a year after the Yorkshire Evening Post spoke to a bereaved Leeds couple whose baby died just 27 minutes after being born. They are among a number of families calling for improvements to maternity care in the city.