Worthing Hospital maternity unit downgraded to 'requires improvement' months after being rated good by CQC

From the Newshound archive · first published 23 September 2026.

The Care Quality Commission has reversed Worthing Hospital's maternity rating from good to requires improvement after an April inspection found women and babies were not being consistently kept safe. CQC deputy director Amanda Williams said progress since a previous inspection was "slow". University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, already under Donna Ockenden's independent review after families lost babies at its hospitals, admitted there was "more to do".

Inspectors found incomplete observations, delayed escalations, unsafe medicines management and only one obstetric theatre for both planned and emergency caesarean sections.

Staff guidelines for postpartum haemorrhage — identified as a high-risk issue — were out of date, and leaders had not completed a review to understand the danger.

In better news, the same trust now has neonatal mortality rates below the national average after improving clinical outcomes for babies.