Southend University Hospital

On this page

• Overview
• Assessing needs
• Delivering evidence-based care and treatment
• How staff, teams and services work together
• Supporting people to live healthier lives
• Monitoring and improving outcomes
• Consent to care and treatment

Women and birthing people generally had positive experiences using the service. However, senior staff acknowledged that they were not meeting all targets and were outliers in some local and national outcomes. In the 2023 General Medical Council (GMC) survey for Southend Hospital, the service scored significantly below the national average in four indicators. Despite this, staff reported feeling supported by doctors. Managers and staff had comprehensive and ongoing audit programs to track improvements over time. The leadership team responded proactively, taking swift action to implement necessary changes.

This service scored 54 (out of 100) for this area. Find out what we look at when we assess this area and How we calculate these scores.

We did not look at Assessing needs during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Delivering evidence-based care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at How staff, teams and services work together during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

We did not look at Supporting people to live healthier lives during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.

Women and birthing people felt that their care was well co-ordinated, and that staff had excellent communication. The staff we spoke to said “I’ve been kept up to date and informed about my plan of care,” “Staff are really friendly” and “everything I’ve need help with has been well managed” The patient survey data from Southend University Hospital showed that 87% of women and birthing people had confidence and trust in the staff caring for them during labour and birth and 81% felt that if they raised a concern during labour and birth they would be taken seriously.

Women and birthing people who used the service generally experienced positive outcomes, meeting expectations set out in legislation, standards, and evidence-based clinical guidance. Effective approaches were in place to monitor and improve care, treatment, and outcomes. Senior staff reported that the service generally performed well on their key performance indicators (KPIs) in the maternity dashboard. However, they acknowledged that they were not meeting targets or were outliers on some local and national outcomes. Areas of improvement include booking; the service has not met their target in recent months and a deep dive identified some women and birthing people were booked before 10 weeks and 11 weeks. In response to this, the trust provided training to booking staff to try and improve performance in this area. A review of the 2023 General Medical Council (GMC) survey scores for Southend University Hospital indicated that the hospital scored significantly below the national average in 4 indicators: Overall Satisfaction, Clinical Supervision out of hours, Supportive Environment, and Study Leave. However, the hospital's scores were similar to the national average in 10 other outcomes. The 2022 and 2023 results also showed a decline from the 2019 and 2020 results. Despite these scores, staff we spoke to during the inspection felt the trust was supportive of doctors' internal and external training, induction, and support for internationally trained doctors.

The trust implemented a quality improvement initiative focused on addressing health inequalities in maternity services. The MNVP collaborated with the service to support women and birthing individuals facing challenges such as obesity, teenage pregnancy, long-term conditions, and those from the Jewish community. Additionally, a public health midwife worked with women and birthing individuals with high or low Body Mass Index (BMI). In July 2023, the MNVP conducted a "15 Steps for Maternity MSE" assessment at Southend University Hospital, where MNVP volunteers visited the hospital with the general aim to help improve the environment of Southend University Hospital maternity services and they provided general feedback for improvements or comments on what they liked. Feedback included remarks such as "Triage is clean and tidy," "Pay machines not working," and "The bereavement suite had a lot of love, care, and thought put into it." The maternity service had achieved level 3 UNICEF Baby Friendly status and was working towards the final UNICEF Baby Friendly Gold status, considered the gold standard for improving the infant feeding and relationship-building experiences of mothers and babies.

Managers and staff conducted a comprehensive, ongoing audit program to track improvements over time. A live dashboard was available to senior managers, displaying key performance indicators for review. This dashboard allowed managers to benchmark and compare data across different locations. Additionally, key information from the dashboard, scorecards, audits, and performance data were accessible to staff, women, birthing individuals, and the public. The service was an outlier for premature births and smoking at delivery, with ongoing quality improvement initiatives to address these issues. Posters indicated that approximately 22.7% of smokers booked between December 2023 and February 2024 delivered prematurely. Plans were in place to reduce premature births, these included the recruitment of a smoking cessation midwife, use of informational posters, highlighting the effects of smoking and encouraging access to cessation support. The service participated in relevant national clinical audits such as the Perinatal Mortality Surveillance report, and the National Maternity & Perinatal Audit (MBRRACE). Outcomes for women and birthing people were generally positive, consistent, and met expectations, such as national standards. Managers and staff used the results to improve woman and birthing people's outcomes.

We did not look at Consent to care and treatment during this assessment. The score for this quality statement is based on the previous rating for Effective.