Response to the CQC’s reports into paediatric services at Yeovil District Hospital and Musgrove Park Hospital

Peter Lewis, chief executive of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“We thank the Care Quality Commission (CQC) for their reports following the inspections of our paediatric services at Yeovil District Hospital (YDH) and Musgrove Park Hospital (MPH) in January.

“The CQC has rated the paediatric service at YDH as inadequate overall and the paediatric service at MPH as good overall.

“We are working hard to address the safety, quality and fragility of the paediatric service at YDH. Our priorities are to provide an equitable service for babies, children and young people across Somerset, to recruit to key roles, and to ensure our paediatric services have strong governance processes and a positive learning culture.

“To achieve this, we are doing a number of things including:

• Designing and recruiting to senior paediatric roles across Somerset, that provide opportunities for candidates to support acute paediatrics and neonatology services, and will play a leading role in the improvement and transformation of the service alongside senior specialist colleagues.
• Looking at what we can learn from other providers, and
• Working through the steps and criteria that need to be in place to enable us to reopen the Special Care Baby Unit and inpatient maternity services at YDH.

“This is a very challenging time, but we are confident that we can build a stronger, more sustainable and future facing service for babies, children and young people in Somerset.

“I thank everyone who is working hard to achieve this and those who are working differently through this difficult period to support families whose care has been affected by the temporary closure of the Special Care Baby Unit and inpatient maternity services at YDH.

“We are committed to providing a formal review of the temporary closures after three and six months. This will provide updates on the impact of the temporary closures, and our work to improve the safety, quality and fragility of the paediatric service at YDH as we work to provide an equitable service for babies, children and young people across Somerset.”