The Mancunian Way: 600 traffic cones nicked

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The news that Manchester’s major women, children and baby hospital has been slapped with a warning from the health watchdog will be concerning for many patients. But it will perhaps come as little surprise to some.

Midwives have been warning about a crisis in maternity care for several years. In fact it was more than two years ago that one Greater Manchester midwife warned that maternity services were ‘thin on the ground’ amid skyrocketing caseloads as birthing rates rose post-pandemic.

Back then, they said the shortage of midwives has ‘a snowball effect on the whole of maternity care’. “We cannot uphold these working conditions anymore. It’s a massive public health matter and it is serious," they said.

"Each midwife is doing the job of at least two and there’s no quick fix. We realise nothing will change overnight but we have all realised we have been talking like this for years. Unfortunately, the service we’re giving isn’t good enough. The women and families deserve better.”

Two years on and it has been revealed that Manchester’s Saint Mary’s Hospital has been issued with a warning by the Care Quality Commission due to serious concerns. The CQC has detailed ‘three main concerns’ about the service ‘not operating effectively to protect’ patients; not providing treatment quickly enough and not having enough ‘skilled and experienced’ staff on duty to prevent risks.

As health reporter Helena Vesty has discovered, St Mary’s Hospital has been under scrutiny by CQC following an