Hospital trust's leadership rated as good

The leadership at a hospital trust has been rated good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), but it said maternity services at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick required improvement.

Inspectors had previously said the leadership of the trust required improvement and they examined a number of service areas operated by the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

They rated most of the other services as "good", but the overall rating for City Health Campus in Birmingham was also rated "requires improvement".

The hospital trust is one of 12 included in Baroness Amos's rapid national maternity review, which is due out in the Spring.

Diane Wake, group chief executive of the trust said she was "incredibly proud" of the inspection of the trust's leadership.

She said it was a "significant step forward from our previous rating".

Wake also acknowledged there were improvements to be made and said: "These will be important areas of focus as we move forward."

The Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust manages several hospital and community services including Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, City Health Campus and Sandwell Health Campus in West Bromwich.

The CQC carried out its inspections at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in September and October.

The hospital opened in late 2024 and this was its first CQC inspection. It does not have an overall rating yet, because the CQC has not inspected all of its services.

The CQC report found emergency care and surgery at the hospital to be good, although it identified a number of areas for concern and told the trust to come up with an action plan.

The report found more needed to be done within the hospital's maternity services to provide safe care and treatment for women and said that included employing more midwifery and nursing staff.

The inspectors said they had been told language barriers affected communication, that the triage process sometimes took longer than appropriate and that more needed to be done to improve the flow of people through the department.

But they also reported staff treated women with kindness and compassion and that the staff themselves felt supported.

Tom and Ewa Hender, who lost their baby when he was stillborn at the old City Hospital in 2022, said they hoped the report would highlight the state of maternity care at the trust.

Tom Hender said he also hoped the "trust will take that on board and make real improvements, particularly in reducing the perinatal mortality rates".

The CQC also rated surgery at Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre, located at City Health Campus, as good.

Carolyn Jenkinson, CQC deputy director of hospitals in the Midlands, said the leadership of the trust had improved at a time when the trust had undergone "major transformation", including the opening of the new hospital.

She said the trust should be pleased with the inspection of its leadership.

In a statement the trust said: "Reducing perinatal mortality remains a key priority."

It sad that while current rates remain above national averages, it had launched a "structured, evidence‑based improvement programme".

It said its aim was to be consistently below the national average for perinatal mortality by October 2026.

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