Review into hospital maternity services

A review has found mothers at Forth Valley Royal Hospital have waited up to 62 hours for labour to be induced.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland carried out an unannounced inspection of maternity services.

It raised safety issues - and found long delays for investigations into serious incidents.

NHS Forth Valley say work is already underway to address the recommendations.

Speaking of the report, Donna Maclean, Chief Inspector, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said:

“During our inspection of the maternity services we saw staff providing compassionate and responsive care to women and their families. Women we spoke with were complimentary of the care they received and the staff providing it.

“We saw good multidisciplinary teamwork and visible senor midwifery leadership and student midwives described a friendly and supportive learning environment. There were a variety of initiatives for staff well-being and we received feedback from staff of supportive senior leadership.

“Areas for improvement included improved oversight of activity within the maternity unit to support the safe delivery of care, including delays to care within maternity triage. We also observed the need for improved governance and oversight of adverse events to ensure these are reliably reported and identified improvement actions implemented in good time.”

NHS Forth Valley's executive nurse director Professor Karen Goudie said:

"Work is already under way to address the recommendations and requirements outlined in the report."

"We welcome the feedback from the inspection team and will continue to work with Health Improvement Scotland, local staff, women and their families to further strengthen and improve local systems and support."