Royal London Hospital security slammed over fears mothers could leave with wrong baby

Health reporter(wp/es):

NHS inspectors today criticised one of Britain’s biggest hospitals for failing to cut the risk of new-born babies being abducted from its maternity wards.

The Care Quality Commission said an electronic tagging system had yet to be introduced at the Royal London, in Whitechapel, almost two years after it first raised concerns.

A new CQC report rated the Royal London’s maternity services “inadequate” and said the hospital, rebuilt at a cost of £650 million, overall “required improvement”, though its adult major trauma unit was rated as outstanding.

Inspectors found midwives, of whom there was a shortage, “felt at risk at night” and there were “no checks” on who was visiting the post-natal ward.

During one inspection seven babies were not wearing identity wristbands, creating a risk that they would receive the wrong medicine or that mothers would leave with the wrong baby.

The report said: “Babies’ security was not treated as a priority.” It suggested an ongoing cash crisis had delayed the introduction of a tagging system.

Barts Health, which runs the Royal London, is the most indebted trust in the NHS, with an expected deficit of £82.7 million this financial year.

Trust bosses said the report misunderstood the proposed tagging system and insisted security had been upgraded.

There have been no cases of babies being abducted or of attempted abductions. The report said: “We had been told in July that a business case for baby tagging had been approved and would be implemented by autumn 2016.

“However, we found in September that electronic tagging had been deferred until the next financial year.”

CQC chief inspector of hospitals Sir Mike Richards said: “Most worrying of all was the lack of a safe and secure environment for new-born babies. We raised this with the Royal London as a matter for their urgent attention.”

A separate CQC report also published today found Whipps Cross Hospital, in Leytonstone, also run by Barts Health, was still inadequate. Barts Health is still in special measures and experts admit its new bosses have a “Herculean task”.

Trust chiefs said Whipps Cross Hospital made huge advances in the last year and was set to emerge from the bottom-rated category in six months.

Inspectors who visited in the summer found “many examples” of a lack of compassion to patients nearing the end of their lives. Some were “visibly in pain” but were not given painkillers.

Improvements were found in safety and effectiveness but change was “too slow”. Trust chief executive Alwen Williams said it was “on the right track”.