The maternity unit at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, Essex was found to be understaffed and without necessary or working equipment in order to ensure the safety of women giving birth. According to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the hospital didn’t even meet or follow some of its own guidelines in some instances. The hospital must improve its standards by March 30 and have functioning, readily-available equipment by April 15. If the hospital fails to improve by these dates, they could face having a restriction placed on their services they’re able to offer or prosecution.

The hospitals aides in the birth of 7,100 babies every single year, but has gained a poor reputation with locals after a number of unfortunate incidents involving new mothers and their children. For example, just two weeks ago the hospital had to formally apologize to a 21-year-old woman after she was forced to give birth to her son in the hospital’s waiting room because the staff didn’t have a bed open or prepared for her to use.

Fortunately, this seems to have served as a way to get the hospital back on track. Chief Executive, Averil Dongworth said, “We are aware that there have been issues with maternity, and are already working to improve the service and address the areas which have been mentioned”.