Recurring concern
Insufficient maternity-service capacity and resilience for safe care
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Request correctionFirst reported 17 May 2019•Latest report 3 Jun 2025
What this concern includes
Includes recurring deficiencies in maternity-service capacity, resilience, staffing cover, site coordination, facilities or organisational arrangements where they materially limit the service's ability to provide safe care, including capacity pressures associated with maternity-unit mergers or split-site arrangements.
Not included
- Excludes isolated maternity clinical errors, treatment failures or patient outcomes where maternity-service capacity or resilience is not the shared unsafe condition.
- Excludes generic hospital capacity, staffing or organisational-change concerns without a direct maternity-service safety connection.
- Excludes condition-specific maternity pathways, such as fetal monitoring, birth-mode decisions or home-birth arrangements, where the named pathway provides the more specific supported boundary.
- Excludes ordinary service reconfiguration or merger activity where no continuing capacity, resilience or safe-care deficiency is identified.
- Reports
- 5
- Individual concerns
- 7
- Date range
- 2019–2025
- Stated actions
- 10
Distinct published reports
A report can raise multiple concerns
First to latest report issue date
Described in published responses
Reports over time
Reports over time
Reports about this concern issued each year.
* 2026 is projected from reports observed to 7 Sep 2026.
Most frequent recipients
Most frequent recipients
Reports about this concern sent to each recipient.
Concerns and responses across reports
Only concerns grouped under this recurring concern are included. Select any concern, action or position to view the source wording.
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Concerns raised1
Lack of on-site paediatric cover at SJUH
This report raised 5 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Respondent positions A position is what a respondent says about the concern when they do not describe a specific action.1
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Position
Individual NHS trusts and employers are responsible for ensuring sufficient staffing for safe care and should review staffing levels.
Stated by Department of Health and Social Care
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Concerns raised1
Maternity service layout impeding full patient oversight
This report raised 6 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
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Concerns raised1
Unavailability or unsuitability of resuscitation equipment on the maternity ward
This report raised 10 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
No linked response statementsNo respondent-stated action or position is linked to these concerns in the published data.
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Concerns raised1
Insufficient capacity at the maternity unit
This report raised 2 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.5
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Action
Review consultant job plans to establish a daily dedicated consultant-led Antenatal ward round with oversight and care plans for delays.
Stated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT -
Action
Review the Maternity Escalation guideline to clarify transfers from the Antenatal ward to the Delivery Suite.
Stated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT -
Action
Introduce an electronic maternity whiteboard providing Delivery Suite with a real-time overview of patients across maternity areas.
Stated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT
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Action
Develop a standard operating policy for transferring women to maternity units within the Local Maternity Services during delays or capacity shortages.
Stated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT -
Action
Undertake a scoping exercise to assess the possibility of creating a three-bedded induction bay on the current Delivery Suite.
Stated by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust (WHHT
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Concerns raised3
Lack of clear responsibility for identifying and ameliorating staffing and acuity risks
Insufficient staffing capacity for patient acuity
Failure to provide consultant attendance
This report raised 7 other concerns. They are not shown here because they do not form part of this recurring concern.
Responses linked to these concernsEach statement is shown once, even when linked to more than one concern.
Actions described in response An action is something a respondent says it has done, is doing, or plans to do in response to the concern raised.5
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Action
Recruit additional midwifery staff and monitor midwifery and medical staffing monthly.
Stated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board -
Action
Complete a Birth Rate Plus assessment of workforce needs for the new unit.
Stated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board -
Action
Implement an escalation policy, incident-reporting process and senior-midwife out-of-hours escalation rota.
Stated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board
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Action
Implement the Birthrate Plus labour-ward acuity system and support staff to use it for timely escalation.
Stated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board -
Action
Increase consultant cover through recruitment of three consultants and provide 60-hour labour-ward presence.
Stated by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board
Data last updated 7 September 2026