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Experts to check maternity unit
An expert team is being brought in to improve a failing maternity unit run by an NHS hospital foundation trust in Buckinghamshire where two babies died.
Milton Keynes General Hospital was too slow implementing recommendations made in 2008, said the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts, Monitor.
In January a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report said more work was needed.
The hospital trust had said it would recruit more midwives but now Monitor says experts must oversee the process.
Must accelerate improvements
Inquests held into the deaths of babies Romy Feast in 2007 and Ebony McCall in 2009 criticised the hospital.
Earlier the CQC had said Milton Keynes Hospital must accelerate improvements to ensure it provided "safe and effective care for mothers and babies".
It said temporary measures were "not sustainable" and added the hospital trust should concentrate on recruiting more permanent midwives and open more permanent beds.
It had also said the trust must improve planning for emergency situations.
"I would like to reassure local women they can feel entirely safe coming to Milton Keynes Hospital to have their babies."
Dr Walter Greaves, Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust
Now the independent regulator, Monitor says the Board of Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust has failed to implement quickly enough the action plan following the 12 recommendations in the Healthcare Commission’s December 2008 report.
The recruitment of a consultant midwife and a sufficient number of additional midwives has yet to carried out, Monitor said.
The regulator has insisted that the trust "appoint external expert clinical advisers, to be agreed with Monitor, to assist the Trust to speed up the delivery of necessary improvements".
‘Safe service’
Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust has responded to Monitor saying the plan is already well underway and more midwives are joining the Trust over the next two months.
The trust’s chairman, Dr Walter Greaves said: "We are pleased that Monitor has examined our plan with such care and we look forward to working with these experts.
"Our maternity department provides a safe and quality service for local mothers, many of whom compliment us on the care they and their babies receive.
"I would like to reassure local women they can feel entirely safe coming to Milton Keynes Hospital to have their babies."
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