A maternity unit in Stevenage which Queen Elizabeth II opened in 2012 "got basic things wrong" before it received an inadequate CQC rating.

At a County Hall meeting on Wednesday, March 15, cross-party county and district councillors quizzed senior leaders from Lister Hospital over an inspection report which found safety on the ward was "inadequate".

The report – published after an inspection in October 2022 – found the service did not control infection risk well, with mould on a bathroom and toilet wall, a "visibly dirty" resuscitation trolley, an unsecure oxygen canister on the floor and one case of hospital-acquired E. coli bacteremia between January and the inspection date.

"What really concerned me is the section in the report about ward safety," said Councillor Teresa Heritage (Con, Harpenden South West).

"That's basic. I do not understand why it had to take a CQC inspection to find the ward wasn't clean.

"You cannot blame Covid. There should have been people looking at it."

Councillor Chris Lloyd (LD, Croxley) asked what impact the maternity probe would have on other areas of the hospital.

According to earlier inspections, children and young people's services, critical care, outpatient care and urgent and emergency services are rated good.

Cllr Lloyd said: "How on Earth did we get into this situation? Have they allowed similar things to happen in other areas? Lessons still need to be learned."

Theresa Murphy, chief nurse at the hospital who took on the role in the summer of 2022, said the hospital has made a rapid improvement since the report, and said all staff are now "taking ownership" of cleanliness on the ward.

Cleaning contractors also attend regular improvement meetings.

Responding to questions about cleanliness, Ms Murphy said: "You are actually right to highlight a section in the report which is fundamental to the service.

"Staff in charge are now actually walking the patch, asking if the ward is clean, if equipment is clean.

"There were gaps in the process but I am really proud of our midwives in charge and nurses in charge in the way they have responded."

Ms Murphy also responded to questions about whether learnings have been taken into other areas of the hospital.

She said: "This is a really vital question we have been asking ourselves."

Ms Murphy said it was "really difficult" for staff to hear the service had been rated inadequate, and said learnings have been seen elsewhere.

Cllrs Mark Watkin (LD, Nascot Park) and Dee Hart (Con, Waltham Cross) picked up on the CQC's finding there were "insufficient numbers of suitably qualified, skilled, competent and experienced staff in the maternity service to keep women and babies safe from avoidable harm and meet their needs".

Cllr Watkin asked whether there were "failures of leadership to pick up on issues earlier" and whether staff morale had been damaged by the report.

Ms Murphy said 220 maternity staff are required in Stevenage to meet the needs of parents and babies on the ward, with 17 full-time equivalent vacancies.

She said East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust has adopted a "grow your own" approach to training students then retaining them as they begin their careers.

The trust has also launched an international recruitment campaign.

Ms Murphy added: "Staff did feel a bit crushed by the report. There are a a lot of great stuff in the report, but they don't remember the great stuff, they always remember the difficult stuff. There's a different attitude there now – a 'can do' culture."

Ms Murphy added staff must remember they are not "part of a problem, but part of the solution".

A report which Ms Murphy presented to councillors sets out an improvement strategy focusing on three areas – equipment and estates, systems and processes, and staffing and training.

Action items include replacement of all mattresses on delivery beds on the consultant-led ward, four updated and repaired bathrooms on antenatal wards, 25 cots and cot mattresses delivered to these antenatal wards, and daily equipment checks in all areas.

The trust has additionally recruited 18 new midwives since October with a schedule of recruitment days in 2023, appointed ward clerks to the antenatal wards, and increased its mandatory training compliance to over 90 per cent by December last year.