Updated
3 January 2025
Date of assessment: 26 to 27 March 2024. This assessment only looked at maternity services due to concerns being raised, so the rating of this location remains as requires improvement. The rating from maternity has been combined with ratings of the other services from the last inspections. See our previous reports to get a full picture of all other services at this location. We rated maternity services as inadequate. We had concerns about triage times and capacity to support women, people using maternity services and their babies. Due to our serious and urgent concerns we sought assurance from the provider on immediate actions they were taking to keep people safe.
Updated
20 March 2024
Broomfield hospital Maternity Unit provides both consultant-led and midwife-led maternity services as part of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation trust. Broomfield provided data evidence of 4175 births from March 2023 to February 2024. The obstetric unit at Broomfield Hospital is a purpose-built unit located on the 4th floor of the hospital. The unit comprises of a Day Assessment Unit (DAU), a consultant-led labour ward, a midwife-led low risk birthing unit and a post-natal ward which includes a 4 bedded bay used for the transitional care of babies. Outpatient services include antenatal clinics and an ultrasound department. There is no separate antenatal ward; patients who are seen and/or admitted during the antenatal period are accommodated on the DAU. The consultant-led (high risk) labour ward comprises a 10 bedded delivery suite, 2 operating theatres, a 4 bedded recovery area where women are cared for following surgical procedures relating to childbirth and bereavement suite. Postnatal care is provided on a 20 bedded ward with 8 individual rooms and 3, 4 bedded bays, one of which is used to provide transitional care to babies requiring additional support but not requiring neonatal unit admission. This assessment included an onsite focused visit on the 26 March 2024 and 27 March 2024 of the maternity services at Broomfield Hospital. We continued to assess information pertaining to the risk assessments of labouring and birthing people and babies. The Broomfield assessment focused on the Maternity services, evaluating them based on five key criteria: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led. Following our assessment the overall rated reduced to inadequate and a notice of decision was sent to impose conditions under Section 31 of the Health and Social Care Act to ensure the trust took immediate action to keep women, birthing people, and babies safe.
Medical care (including older people’s care)
Updated
27 October 2023