‘If they’d listened my baby wouldn’t have died’ says Devon mum

It found almost half were rated as requires improvement (36%) or inadequate (12%), while only 4% of services were rated as outstanding and 48% were rated as good.

On safety, nearly two thirds were rated as either inadequate (18%) or requires improvement (47%).

All four of Devon’s maternity units – Derriford, North Devon District Hospital, Royal Devon and Exeter and Torbay Hospital – were found to require improvement overall and in safety and leadership.

NDDH has repeatedly been rated as requires improvement over the last decade following CQC inspections in 2015, 2017, 2019 and the latest in 2023.

In 2020, following a BBC investigation into baby deaths at the maternity unit, then medical director Prof Adrian Harris, who took over the unit in 2018, said sweeping changes on the ward meant “progress” had been made, adding the unit was “completely different” from the “boardroom right down to the shop floor”.

Torbay Hospital has also repeatedly failed to improve its CQC ratings having received requires improvement from its last three inspections in 2018, 2020 and 2023.