Watchdog uncovers “a culture of abuse” at Essex hospital

Women giving birth at Queen’s Hospital in Romford, Essex, were subjected to “abusive” behaviour by staff and provided with poor clinical care, an investigation by the Care Quality Commission has found.

The watchdog uncovered a “culture of abuse” among midwives and maternity staff at the hospital, where five women died in childbirth in the 18 months before the investigation, including two in 2011.

Its report says that governance at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital and King George Hospital in Ilford, is “weak”; …