Maternity services at Wrexham Maelor Hospital receive clean bill of health in latest inspection report

Maternity services at Wrexham Maelor Hospital have received a clean bill of health following a positive inspection report.

Health Inspectorate Wales (HIW), the national regulator for health services, made an unannounced visit to several wards at the district general hospital earlier this year.

It included, the antenatal, postnatal and midwifery led units, as well as the labour ward itself.

Whilst officials identified a small number of areas for improvement, overall they found the service provided “respectful, dignified, safe and effective” care to patients.

It followed glowing feedback from mothers and families at the hospital.

In their report, the inspectors said: “During the inspection, we distributed HIW questionnaires to patients, families and carers to obtain their views on the standard of care provided.

“A total of nine questionnaires were completed. We also spoke with four patients during the inspection.

“The majority of patients who completed questionnaires rated the care and treatment provided during their stay in the maternity unit as excellent (scores were detailed as nine out of ten and above).

“Patients and their families who we spoke with also said they had a good experience in the whole of the unit.”

The feedback quoted one new mother as saying: “The staff have been excellent could not have asked for better care for myself and my baby boy”.

The health board helps to deliver approximately 6,602 births per year, with around 2,577 of those occurring at the Maelor.

Women have the choice of four birth settings, including at home, midwifery led units and obstetric units.

As well as praising the care provided by staff, HIW also spoke positively about the safety of treatment given.

Officials said: “Overall, there were good processes in place within the unit to support the delivery of safe and effective care.

“We found there were robust processes in place for the management of medicines, pain assessment and clinical incidents, ensuring that information and learning is shared across the service.”

Recommendations made for improvement, include ensuring the availability of an on-call anaesthetist out of hours, reviewing medical job plans, delivering pool evacuation training and enhancing signs and directions to the unit.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board will now be required to draw up a plan to address the points raised.

By Liam Randall – BBC Local Democracy Reporter (more here on the LDR scheme)