MATERNITY services in Musgrove Park Hospital are improving - but only just, health regulators have said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) previously rated the hospital’s maternity department as ‘inadequate’.

Now, inspectors have carried out a fresh visit of the facilities run by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust (SNFT) and upgraded its rating to ‘requires improvement’.

The team found water leaking into clinical areas, mould on walls and ceilings of the postnatal ward, insufficient privacy, and staff were not keeping medicine records up to date which meant doctors and midwives did not always have enough information to make safe decisions.

Musgrove has been waiting for a planned new maternity and paediatric department to be built, but the Government has delayed the project until 2033.

Local MP Gideon Amos has been campaigning to have the project brought forward as a matter of urgency.

Inspectors followed up on progress of improvements they told the trust to make after previously taking enforcement action.

A warning notice had been issued requiring improvements to the safety of women using maternity services at both SNFT hospitals in Yeovil and Taunton.

Now, requirements of the warning notice for Musgrove had been met and were no longer in place.

However, the service remained in breach of regulations related to safe care and treatment, safeguarding, medicines management, and environment, and the trust has been told to provide an action plan outlining how it will address the concerns.

The overall rating for Musgrove Park Hospital remained rated as ‘good’.

CQC deputy director of hospitals in Somerset Catherine Campbell said: “When our inspectors visited maternity services at Musgrove Park Hospital, we found a service that had improved since our previous inspection.

“Women told us staff were compassionate, caring, and went above and beyond for them, and that is clearly something the whole team should be proud of.

“While we saw clear improvements, some important safety concerns remain.

“A significant part of this picture is the pressure the service has been under since the trust took the decision to temporarily close the Yeovil maternity unit in May, 2025.

“That closure transferred considerable demand to Musgrove, and our inspectors saw the impact directly.

“Women were waiting up to 10 hours for a medical review in triage and, in some cases, were leaving without a care plan in place because a doctor was not available to update it.

“That is not acceptable, and it is a risk we have asked the trust to address urgently.

“We also raised concerns about safeguarding.

“Our inspectors found that some women were not routinely asked about domestic violence, despite evidence that pregnancy is a particularly high-risk period.

“Some referrals had been missed or delayed.

“We know the trust is aware of these issues and has started taking action, but there is more work to do to make sure every woman’s safety needs are identified and acted on consistently.

“We have shared our findings with the trust and will continue to monitor the service closely, to make sure improvements are delivered and women and their babies are kept safe.”

SNFT chief nurse and midwife Prof Deirdre Fowler said the trust had carried out a ‘huge amount’ of work to improve maternity services since the previous CQC inspection, in November 2023.

Prof Fowler said: “Today’s ratings and the CQC’s report reflect the improvements we have made and the work that is needed to further improve maternity services across Somerset.”

“This inspection report highlights the pressure on maternity services at Musgrove during the period when maternity and neonatal services were temporarily closed at Yeovil.

“The report also highlights the impact of the old, outdated, and cramped maternity unit at Musgrove on mothers, babies, families, and maternity colleagues, and the quality of care we are able to provide from these facilities.

“We have made as many improvements as possible to this building, but it is not fit for use in a modern NHS and needs to be replaced urgently.”