MID Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has laid out how it is improving maternity services.

Maternity services at Leighton Hospital were rated as ‘requires improvement’ by the Care Quality Commission following an inspection last September.

Now, chief nursing officer for the trust which oversees the service, Scott Malton, has explained what they have been doing to improve the situation.

He said: “As a trust we continue to ensure that the safety of those in our care remains a top priority.

"Over the last six months since CQC visited our maternity services we have delivered our planned investment of more than £1 million to continue to improve the quality and safety of services for our local population but also for our dedicated team of staff.

"The maternity service has made significant strides forward in recent months, we have invested in our people, recruiting additional members to our midwifery team as well as employing extra members of staff to free up time to enable our midwives to focus on delivering babies and supporting our local mums.

"We have also expanded services, bringing in additional members of staff to support work in our maternity theatres, alongside making improvements within our maternity triage and waiting rooms.”

The CQC’s report, published today (April 19), noted that staff weren’t trained properly and leaders weren’t taking steps to address risks raised.

It also added that the design and layout didn’t keep people safe, while there was not enough surgical theatre capacity to deal with two obstetric emergencies at the same time.

READ MORE: Leighton Hospital's maternity services 'requires improvement' says CQC

It did, however, say that staff and leaders were 'visible and approachable' and handled complaints well.

Mr Malton added: “We are incredibly proud of our dedicated staff, whose hard work, professionalism and commitment to caring for our local population is shown each and every day.

"As chief nursing officer this pride extends to every single person who works at Leighton Hospital and is part of Mid Cheshire Trust.

"I do want to acknowledge the work of our maternity team, whose care for our local population was shown in the report, where inspectors identified that the service engaged well with the local community to plan and make improvements and worked with the local Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership.

"This focus on our local population was mirrored in the positive feedback we have heard through the recent CQC inpatient survey, where our results were better than most trusts in several key areas including mental health care, involving patients in decisions, hospital room cleanliness, and overall care for patients.

"We recognise that there is still more work to do, and we will carry on our journey of continuous improvement to provide the very best level of safe quality care for our community.”