The maternity department at Mayday, Croydon’s largest hospital, where close to 4,000 babies are born each year, has been rated as “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission.
Under a warning: the CQC gave ‘requires improvement’ ratings to Croydon’s maternity unit in four of six categories
Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, which runs what is sometimes referred to as Croydon University Hospital, has been served a warning notice due to concerns about triage, staff training and appraisal, risk assessments and record-keeping, equipment and environment checks, and leadership and governance.
The hospital provides maternity care for people from across south-west London.
The CQC conducted a “focused inspection” that finished in October last year.
The inspection followed up “on concerns received about long waiting times in maternity triage, poor communication from staff and staff shortages, particularly in medical cover”. This at a NHS Trust which in 2025 failed to offer jobs to the latest cadre of student nurses who had been training there for the previous three years.
Mayday was rated as “Good” in only two of six inspection categories.
“CQC downgraded the overall rating for maternity services at Croydon University Hospital from good to requires improvement, as well as for how safe the service was,” the CQC said in a statement released this morning.
“The ratings for how well-led and caring remained good. CQC did not look at effective and responsive, these ratings remain from a previous inspection, when they were rated as good.
“The rating of Croydon University Hospital remains ‘requires improvement’.”
‘Safety had declined’: Antoinette Smith of CQC
Antoinette Smith, CQC’s deputy director of hospitals in London, said: “When we inspected maternity services at Croydon University Hospital, we found many skilled and dedicated staff who women described as caring, compassionate and professional. However, safety had declined in some areas since our previous inspection and leaders must now focus on making the necessary improvements.
“Our main concerns were around triage and delays in the induction of labour process.
“The service didn’t have a dedicated midwife covering the maternity triage telephone line, which is not in line with national guidance. We also found significant delays in the induction of labour process. Many women waited more than four hours between admission and the start of induction. While the trust had an action plan in place, it hadn’t been fully implemented at the time of our inspection.
“Leaders needed to improve how some areas are managed, including risk assessments, records, equipment checks, and staff training. We were also concerned that some serious incidents weren’t always classified at the correct level of harm, which could make it harder for services to learn and improve.
Traffic lights: how the CQC rated elements of the hospital’s maternity services
“However, leaders recognised how health inequalities affect outcomes for women from ethnic minority and disadvantaged groups in their local population, and the trust had introduced a campaign specifically aimed at improving outcomes for black, Asian and minority ethnic pregnant women.
“The trust had started to take action after our inspection, including setting up a dedicated maternity telephone helpline and launching a quality improvement project for induction of labour. However, we haven’t yet been able to assess the impact of these changes.
“We have shared our findings with the trust and will continue to monitor these services closely, including through further inspections, to ensure improvements are delivered quickly and women are kept safe.”
Inspectors found:
- Staff didn’t always complete risk assessments and records to the required standard, with gaps identified in documentation across triage and other maternity areas
- Some staff weren’t up to date with mandatory and maternity specific training. Fewer than half of medical staff had completed safeguarding children level 2 and 3 training
- Staff didn’t always complete emergency equipment checks on the labour ward, and some equipment had not been serviced or safety tested within the required timescales
- The trust relied on interim cover for several senior leadership posts, and some frontline staff said they rarely saw senior leaders on the wards
And they added:
- Leaders showed a proactive approach to learning and were early adopters of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework
- Recruitment initiatives improved staffing fill rates and reduced the use of agency shifts
- Leaders were on track to meet the safety actions set out in the maternity incentive scheme
Read more: Student nurses left ‘abandoned’ and ‘neglected’ by NHS Trust
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