'Women were not always protected': Portsmouth maternity services downgraded to 'requires improvement'
Staff ‘did not always assess woman’s health or complete monitoring to keep women and their baby safe’
Queen Alexandra Hospital’s maternity care has been downgraded to “requires improvement” by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as inspectors found that “women were not always protected from avoidable harm”.
The CQC also downgraded birth centres at St Mary's Community Health Campus and Gosport War Memorial Hospital.
Inspectors found that “care had deteriorated and the service was now in breach of five regulations.
“Some of the breaches were the same as the previous inspection in relation to safe care and treatment, and how the service was being managed, but CQC found additional issues around staffing, safeguarding and person-centred care.”
Safeguarding training compliance was found to be significantly below target at the hospitals, and across the trust's maternity services, only 29% of doctors and medical staff were up to date with their training.
Staffing levels across the trust’s maternity care centres did not always meet the needs of women safely, with the CQC reporting “persistent poor staffing and daily, severe operational pressures” and “a continuous inability to meet national staffing standards”.
The report said: “these frequent escalations indicated a chronic, widespread failure rather than temporary surges.”
Between October 2025 to March 2026, there were 17 cases where women were transferred to a neighbouring hospital trust for their induction of labour, due to operational pressures and delays within the service in Portsmouth and Gosport.
Issues were also raised concerning the leadership at the hospital, with the CQC reporting that: “Senior leaders did not have sufficient oversight of safeguarding, staffing, access to women’s chosen place of birth, outcomes, and improvement actions.”
At Saint Mary's Community Health Campus in Milton, inspectors found that leaders did not fix a broken emergency equipment check and missed nine daily checks on newborn resuscitation equipment over the span of three months.
They also found that managers left doors to areas containing pipework and electrical cabling unlocked, “creating a risk to staff and members of the public”.
It was also noted that the working culture across the trust’s maternity centres “was not consistently positive”, and that “staff did not always feel listened to or supported by senior leaders”.
However, families who used the service gave positive feedback about their experiences with the hospital, telling inspectors they felt “safe, well supported and cared for”.
Staff did not always assess woman’s health or complete monitoring to keep women and their baby safe.
Catherine Campbell, CQC deputy director of hospitals, secondary and specialist care for the South-West, said: “while women's day-to-day experiences of kindness often remained strong, the systems underpinning those experiences weren't keeping pace.
“Staffing shortages and operational pressures were having a significant impact on women's care and the choices available to them. At Queen Alexandra Hospital, this meant women's choices about place of birth were sometimes overridden by workforce availability rather than clinical need, and we found delays of over 6 hours for some women waiting to start an induction of labour.
“At Saint Mary's Community Health Campus, women in labour were often redirected to the main hospital site rather than the midwife-led unit they'd chosen, and the trust couldn't tell us how many women this affected because it wasn't monitoring the data. At Gosport War Memorial Hospital, 25 women who asked to give birth at the birth centre were turned away over an 18-month period due to a lack of available staff.
“The trust now needs to address these staffing and governance issues so that every woman's experience is consistently safe, not just consistently kind.”
Penny Emerit, Chief Executive of Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust said: “Following their inspection earlier this year we have now received the CQC’s report on our maternity services. Inspectors highlighted women’s positive birthing experiences and the ways in which our midwives went above and beyond. The report also highlighted the care and compassion of our staff across all sites.
“Inspectors also highlighted some issues that we must address, including responding to operational pressures, ensuring safe staffing, reducing delays in care and compliance with safeguarding training.
“These issues are consistent with what we have heard from our staff through recent listening events. We accept the CQC’s findings and are determined to address the issues raised to ensure our services are resilient and meet the needs of the communities we serve. We already have improvement plans in place, and we will continue to work with women, birthing people, families and our staff to ensure these are implemented and fully reflect the improvements we need to make.
“I would like to thank our staff for their commitment and for the care they continue to provide. Our focus continues to be on ensuring our women and families have a positive experience and receive the best possible care.”
You can find more about the CQC report here.