Salisbury maternity services rated as 'good'

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has upgraded the rating of maternity services in Wiltshire from 'requires improvement' to 'good'.

Inspectors visited Salisbury District Hospital's maternity services, run by Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, unannounced in September 2024.

The CQC had received concerns about culture, poor care, low staffing and poor performance. These concerns were found to be unsubstantiated.

Judy Dyos, Chief Nurse at the hospital, said they were "incredibly proud" of everyone in their maternity team.

She said: "I would like to thank everyone in the maternity team for the hard work and commitment they show day in, day out.

"It is fantastic news that parents said they felt safe in our care and felt able to raise concerns with our staff."

Neil Cox, CQC deputy director of operations in the South, said they had found "significant improvements" in the leadership.

He said: "Our experience tells us that when a service is well-led, they're more likely to meet people's needs in the other areas we inspect which is what we found here.

"People were seen and triaged quickly by well qualified staff, and were involved in making decisions about their own care.

"We saw this reflected in the positive feedback people gave about the service. Women told us they felt safe and could raise concerns if they had any without fear of it impacting their care.

"Staff should be proud of the improvements they've made, and we'll continue to monitor the service to make sure these are embedded," he added.

Vicki Marston, Director of Midwifery, said, "The team deliver over 2,000 babies a year and we want to give a big thank you to our amazing colleagues for delivering compassionate care and making a real difference to our community."

The overall rating for Salisbury District Hospital and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust both remain rated as good.

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