Health inspectors have rated Harrogate District Hospital’s maternity services as ‘requires improvement’.
The Care Quality Commission, which inspects hospitals and health services, published its verdict in a report on Friday after an inspection in November 2022.
The CQC visited the hospital as part of a national inspection of maternity services.
Harrogate District Hospital was previously rated ‘good’ in a 2016 inspection that looked at maternity services and gynaecology. This latest report was the first time maternity services were rated as standalone services.
The four possible outcomes are ‘outstanding’. ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said it was “difficult to understand” the change in the rating.
The CQC report said “compliance with appropriate safeguarding, life support training and medicines did not meet targets” although it acknowledged “there was a plan in place to recover this position”.
It added that the number of medical staff on hand “were not always sufficient” and there was no clear system in place to “to identify prioritise risks to women in the maternity assessment area”.
Regular checks on life saving equipment “were not always completed”, the report said.
Inspectors said staff at the service “did not always receive and keep up to date” with mandatory training.
Read more:
- Government ‘refuses to consider’ compensating North Yorkshire for scrapped care pilot
- County council plans programme to tackle children being ‘enticed’ to vape
However, the CQC did find the service had enough midwifery staff to care for women and that staff worked well together.
It added:
“Staff had training in key skills, and worked well together for the benefit of women, understood how to protect women from abuse, and managed safety well. The service controlled infection risk well.
“Staff assessed risks to women in most areas, acted on them and kept good care records. They managed medicines well. The service managed safety incidents well and learned lessons from them.”
‘Not a fair reflection’
In response to the report, Mr Coulter said he did not feel that the findings in the report were a reflection of the service at the hospital.
He said:
Harrogate College sets 2035 carbon neutral target“With such positive findings in the CQC report it is difficult to understand the resultant rating change and we do not feel it is a fair reflection of the maternity service we provide. The report describes a maternity unit which is fully staffed, with a positive culture, with staff that are competent, listen to women and are always seeking to improve.
“We are proud of our team for the dedication, professionalism and caring attitude that they show each day whilst supporting those in our care. We are disappointed the rating applied to the service overall and for the safe domain does not appear to reflect the findings in the report.
“Whatever the rating in this report, our response will be to focus on learning and improvement, as it is for any external or internal service review.
“As part of this focus on continually improving our services, we prioritise listening and learning to ensure we can provide the high quality care that our patients deserve. Listening to people who use our maternity services is so important, as we completely understand that peoples’ experience can differ.
“This is why, in addition to our own improvement work, we work in partnership with our Maternity Voices Partnership who provide another valuable way for us to hear the needs of those using our services.”
Harrogate College has pledged to become net zero by 2035.
The college, which is based on Hornbeam Park, has made the commitment as part of Luminate Education Group’s drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
It aims to reduce its carbon footprint by building a new campus building in Harrogate, which will include energy-efficient, electric-based heating systems.
The college has also pledged to publish annual updates on its progress towards net zero.
Danny Wild, principal at Harrogate College, said:
“Climate change and ecological destruction are some of the biggest challenges of our time and education providers, like all institutions, have a responsibility to play their part by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“The government’s target for the UK to reach net zero is 2050, but here at Harrogate College we’re aiming to do so much sooner.”
He added:
“Key to achieving this will be the £20m project we have lined up to replace our campus building at Harrogate. This will allow us to build a sustainable, purpose-built facility, focused on technical and vocational education, that will incorporate energy-efficient, electric-based heating systems.
“We are also recycling materials as much as possible across every single one of our courses, while looking into ways of generating our own energy and introducing a sustainable travel plan.”
Read more:
- Harrogate College to undergo £16m transformation
- Harrogate Spring Water ‘reviewing plans’ to expand bottling plant ahead of new application
The pledge comes as the college was awarded £16 million from the government to replace its main building on Hornbeam Park.
It means the Harrogate district will get a new a purpose-built space for technical and vocational education.
The new energy-efficient building will include a workshop providing facilities aligned to industry needs. It will complement the college’s existing tech centre, which is home to its motor vehicle, electrical, joinery and welding workshops.
An existing £4 million budget will be used to pay for the demolition of the old college building.
Planned Harrogate district taxi licence fare hikes ‘far too much’A Harrogate district taxi driver has criticised new taxi fare and licence fees planned for North Yorkshire.
North Yorkshire County Council unveiled the new charges as part of its new licensing policy for cabs under the upcoming North Yorkshire Council.
It will see the fixed start fee for a district cabbie increase from £3.60 to £4.00.
However, the night time and Christmas tariffs would remain fixed at £5.40 and £7.20.
Meanwhile, the council is also proposing increasing licence fees for new drivers from the current Harrogate rate of £319 for one-year to £350.
It is also planning a renewal fee increase from £249 to £280 – a hike of 12.5%.
The proposed table of tariffs are due to go before a county council executive tomorrow.
Richard Fieldman, who runs a taxi firm in Ripon, said the new tariffs would not help those who work night shifts.
He criticised the policy and added that the licence fees increase of 12.5% was “far too much”.
Mr Fieldman said:
“They have put their hand in a lottery bag and thrown it in.”
Read more:
- No increase in wheelchair accessible taxis in Harrogate district
- Taxi licensing changes will cause ‘chaos’, says Ripon cabbie
- New council plans single taxi licensing for North Yorkshire
The move comes as North Yorkshire County Council will introduce a single hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy from the spring.
The existing seven district councils, including Harrogate, currently have their own hackney carriage and private hire licensing policies. However, under the new policy, drivers will be able to operate in any area of the county.
Cllr Derek Bastiman, executive councillor for open to business, said:
Business Breakfast: Knaresborough fire and security company merges with national firm“The proposed licence fees ensure we can provide the administration of vehicle and operators’ licences, carry out essential inspections of vehicles so that passengers can continue to travel safely and maintain hackney carriage stands, as well as the enforcement of the licences, without creating an additional cost to the taxpayer.
“With the launch of a single local licensing authority for North Yorkshire, the proposed fees also ensures hackney carriage and private hire licence holders and taxi operators across the county are treated equally, and will hopefully encourage them to continue to invest in and maintain high-quality and safe vehicles.
“The setting of taxi fares is also a statutory duty for the licensing authority and our aim is to strike a balance between setting a fare that is acceptable to the customer and to the taxi driver, and not create confusion by varied fares in the licensed area.
“The proposed fares are the maximum hackney carriage drivers can charge. They can of course charge a lower fare, should they wish to do so.”
It’s time to join the Stray Ferret Business Club. The third in our series of networking events in association with The Coach and Horses in Harrogate is a lunch event on March 30 from 12.30pm.
Don’t miss out on this chance to network with businesses from across the Harrogate district. Get your tickets by clicking or tapping here.
A Knaresborough fire and security company has merged with a national compliance firm.
Logic Fire and Security, which is based on Manse Lane, has joined Compliance Group Ltd.
The Milton Keynes company specialises in providing businesses with safety and regulatory compliance services.
Compliance said the merger would help to add planning, upgrading, and maintaining existing fire and security equipment for clients as well as designing new systems for expansion and refurbishment to its services.
Piotr Nowosad, CEO of Compliance Group said:
“We are delighted to have Logic Fire and Security join us at such a key stage of significant growth, helping us significantly strengthen and broaden our services in fire safety and protection around the country.”
Sean McPartland, managing director of Logic, Fire and Security said:
“It is a really exciting time for both our businesses, and we look forward to being part of Compliance Group, delivering high-quality services beyond fire and security to our clients whilst keeping our long-established company family values.”
Prosperis celebrates 20th birthday
A Knaresborough-based financial advisors has celebrated its 20th birthday.
Staff celebrating Prosperis’ 20th birthday.
This past week, Prosperis marked the milestone with a party at its offices on St James’ Business Park.
The celebration was attended by Niall Gunn, managing director, Paul Meehan, chairman, and staff.
The company was recently the main sponsor the inaugural Stray Ferret Business Awards, which saw nearly 400 guests attend the Pavilions of Harrogate for the ceremony.
Read more:
Harrogate Grammar School appoints student leadership team
Harrogate Grammar School has appointed a new student leadership team.
Tess Eastaugh and Zach Southworth have been appointed head students of the Student Leadership Team, while Hannah Barclay, Sam Featherstone, Alice Lashua, Theo Levine, Adam Mir and Amy Robson have all been appointed as deputies.
The head students have a wide remit to represent over 2000 students, to chair the senate and report back to the senior leaders in the school.
Meanwhile, the deputies run the school council across the year groups.
The whole team will support school events, whilst also promoting the recruitment of new students and meeting with other Head Students from across the Red Kite Learning Trust.
Ben Twitchin, director of the school’s sixth form, said:
“Candidates wrote a letter of application and then recorded a short piece to camera, which was played to whole school for all students to cast their vote.
“Successful students then presented to the school’s Senate, and from the final eight students were interviewed to become part of our Student Leadership Team, with Tess and Zach as our Head Students and the other six as a key team of Deputies.”
Zach Southworth, head student, said:
“Being appointed Head Student is the culmination of a dream for me as I was inspired by a previous Head Student when I joined year 7 in 2017. I now have the responsibility, with the rest of the team, to work with all the staff, and students to continue to enhance the experience of students at our school.”
Neil Renton, headteacher at the grammar school, added:
“We are fortunate to have such a strong group of student leaders at our school”
“This team will build on the fantastic work of our previous student leaders who have made such a positive contribution to school life.
“We know that they will be positive role models and fine ambassadors for our school within the wider community.”
Pictured above: Front left to right: Zach Southworth and Tess Eastaugh Middle left to right: Adam Mir, Amy Robson, Alice Lashua and Hannah Barclay Back left to right: Theo Levine and Sam Featherstone.
Read more:
- Ofsted rates Harrogate pre-school ‘outstanding’ for first time
- Ofsted praise for ‘warm and welcoming’ village pre-school near Harrogate
Explained: What happens to Harrogate taxis after devolution?
A new council is set to take over in the Harrogate district in three weeks’ time.
Both Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council will make way for North Yorkshire Council on April 1.
Under the new council, how taxi drivers operate and how they are licensed will change.
In this article, we will explain how taxis are currently licensed and what will change from April this year.
Who currently licences taxis?
Currently, Harrogate Borough Council licences taxi drivers within the district.
Those drivers who wish to operate a taxi in the borough must be licensed by the council.
Once they have a licence, they can drive their vehicle and operate anywhere in the district.
Similarly, the borough council is responsible for licensing wheelchair accessible cabs.
Who sets the fares?
As well as issuing licences, the borough council also sets the fares and fees for drivers.
The council reviews fares for taxis annually.
What will happen from April?
From April, the new North Yorkshire Council will implement a single taxi zone across the county.
The existing seven district councils, including Harrogate, currently have their own hackney carriage and private hire licensing policies.
However, under the new policy, drivers will be able to operate in any area of North Yorkshire.
The plan has proved controversial with local cabbies, who described it as a “disaster”.
They argue that the move would lead to taxis crowding out busier areas and leave rural communities without a service.
What about fares?
The council is currently considering how to set fares for taxis under its single zone policy.
A proposal over fares for North Yorkshire cabs is expected to go before councillors on Tuesday (March 21).
Read more:
- Explained: Who will make planning decisions in Harrogate district after devolution?
- Explained: What happens to bin collections in Harrogate after devolution?
Harrogate’s Archie Gray signs professional deal with Leeds United
Archie Gray has signed his first professional deal with Leeds United.
Gray, who turned 17 last Sunday, agreed the two-and-a-half year deal with the club until the summer of 2025.
The midfielder is yet to make his debut for the club, but was named as an unused substitute for the Whites five times in the Premier League last season.
Gray completed his GCSEs at St John Fisher Catholic High School in Harrogate last year.
He is also great-nephew of Leeds legend, and Kirkby Overblow resident, Eddie Gray.
In a statement following Gray’s signing, Leeds United said:
“Everyone at Leeds United would like to congratulate Archie on signing his first professional deal and we look forward to his future progress.”
Read more:
- Harrogate man’s 40-year love affair with Leeds United
- Harrogate student scores wonder goal for Leeds youth team
North Yorkshire Police officers sacked after racist WhatsApp messages
Two North Yorkshire Police officers have been dismissed after sending racist text messages between each other.
Detective constable Danielle Kirby and police constable James Mills were alleged to have breached the force’s standards of professional behaviour.
Both were dismissed following a gross misconduct hearing at the force’s headquarters in Northallerton.
The pair exchanged WhatsApp messages which were found to be racist between December 2018 and March 2019.
Mabs Hussain, deputy chief constable of North Yorkshire Police, said:
“The racist language and sentiments contained in the series of WhatsApp messages are repulsive.
“It has no place in society, let alone from people who have sworn an oath to uphold the highest standards of fairness, integrity and respect to all people.
“The evidence in this case was damning, and it is only right that the panel upheld the gross misconduct and the officers have been dismissed from North Yorkshire Police.”
Gerry Sydenham, who chaired the panel, said:
“The messages exchanged by former PC Mills and former DC Kirby contained appalling racist comments which were egregious in nature and content.
“The corrosive effect of such racist gross misconduct upon public confidence in policing cannot be understated.
“It is intolerable and devastating to the good work of other police officers who try daily to build the public’s trust and confidence in policing.
“Both officers undermined the public’s trust and the trust of their police force in themselves in a grave and shocking manner, causing very significant and potentially lasting damage to public confidence in policing.”
Read more
- North Yorkshire Police urged to start recording ‘high priority’ wildlife crime
- North Yorkshire Police to balance books by leaving 120 posts vacant
Harrogate cabbie criticises council after taxi licensing meeting
A Harrogate district taxi driver has criticised North Yorkshire County Council over a licensing policy following a meeting with a senior councillor.
Cabbies from Harrogate, Ripon and the GMB Union met with Conservative councillor Derek Bastiman, executive councillor for open to business, over the new single zone policy in North Yorkshire yesterday.
Under the plan, the new North Yorkshire Council will create a single licensing policy for hackney carriages and private hire vehicles in the entire county.
It will mean drivers in Harrogate can operate anywhere in North Yorkshire, whereas they are currently restricted to the Harrogate district.
After the proposal was announced, drivers predicted it would cause “chaos” and called for a meeting with the council over the policy.
Following the meeting with Cllr Bastiman, drivers criticised the council over the continuing with the proposal.
Richard Fieldman, who has run his taxi company for 28 years in Ripon, told the Stray Ferret that he felt the council “did not know what it was doing”.
He said:
“The top and bottom of it is they have not got a clue what they are doing. I have said before, this is going to cause destruction for the trade.”
Read more:
- Angry Harrogate district cabbies fear ruin under new system
- Taxi licensing changes will cause ‘chaos’, says Ripon cabbie
- New council plans single taxi licensing for North Yorkshire
Mr Fieldman added that some drivers would lose out under the new system.
He said cabbies raised concern over the policy and potential new fees and fare with Cllr Bastiman.
However, Mr Fieldman said he felt that the trade was “fighting a losing battle”, but that added they would continue to oppose the changes until the new system begins next month.
In response, Cllr Bastiman told the Stray Ferret:
Concern over North Yorkshire Police’s ability to keep people safe, say inspectors“I can confirm that the meeting was very cordial.
“Driver’s comments were taken away with an assurance that following a meeting that I will arrange with the relevant officers hopefully next week, a full response will be provided to the representative from the GMBU who offered to circulate to those operators present at the meeting.
“Those present were happy with this proposal.”
Inspectors have raised concern over North Yorkshire Police’s ability to keep people safe and reduce crime.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services undertook an inspection of the force in October 2022 for its effectiveness and efficiency.
The report, published today, rated the police as inadequate in good use of its resources.
Meanwhile, the force was rated as requires improvement for responding to the public, investigating crime, protecting vulnerable people and developing a positive workplace.
However, it was assessed as adequate for preventing crime and managing offenders. It was rated as good for treatment of the public.
Concern over police performance
In his report, Roy Wilsher, inspector of constabulary, raised concern over how the force kept people safe and reduced crime.
In particular, he said senior leaders did not have enough oversight of human resources and IT or of the “impact that failures in these areas have had on policing services”.
Mr Wilsher said the force did not have enough trained detectives and pointed out there was “only a limited plan to address this”.
Read more
- North Yorkshire Police urged to start recording ‘high priority’ wildlife crime
- North Yorkshire Police to balance books by leaving 120 posts vacant
He added that the force should improve the speed with which it answers and responds to emergency and priority calls.
The speed of responding to 999 calls was criticised.
However, Mr Wilsher said that North Yorkshire Police worked well with other organisations to safeguard vulnerable people.
He said:
“I have concerns about the performance of North Yorkshire Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime. In particular, I have serious concerns about its strategic planning and organisational management.
“Senior leaders in the force need to ensure they have effective oversight of its enabling services, such as IT and HR functions. Failures in these areas impact the service the force provides.
“North Yorkshire Police also needs to improve the speed with which it answers and responds to emergency calls. The force is well below the national standard, with only 41.9 percent of 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds.
“However, we did find that the force works well with partner organisations to safeguard vulnerable people. We found good examples of the force working with other organisations to divert young people away from offending and to reduce the vulnerability of people who may become victims of crime.
“Although I have concerns about corporate processes, I am pleased that the force has accepted our findings and is engaging with us and other partner organisations to ensure improvements are made. I remain in regular contact with the chief constable and will monitor the force’s progress towards addressing the cause of concern and areas of improvement I have established.”
In response, Lisa Winward, chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, said the force had recently approved a £1.8 million investment in its force control room to help tackle call response times.
She said:
“The report highlights a number of areas that the force delivers well but also reports on a significant number of areas that require improvement. A number of these relate to the corporate capacity and capability of the organisation linked to workforce planning, governance, performance management, financial planning, and the overall efficiency and effectiveness of our shared enabling services.
“They told us that while the right actions might be taking place on the ground by our people, they were not able to find sufficient evidence of how this was directed and overseen through our governance structure.
“The inspectors told us that every single person they spoke to was committed, fully engaged in their work and doing a really good job in difficult circumstances. They told us that our people take pride in being part of North Yorkshire Police and that there is a strong sense of belonging in the force.
“Since we received the hot debrief from HMICFRS in October 2022, we have been working at a pace to address the issues that they have raised so we can focus on our core responsibilities to the public.
“The Organisational Improvement Plan that we have put in place focuses on achieving the standards required to deliver a good service to our communities. The force has been through a significant period of change since our last inspection in 2018, and in particular to our corporate services where our inadequate grading has been identified. We are investing heavily to make these changes.”
Commissioner ‘more than disappointed’
Zoe Metcalfe
Meanwhile, Zoe Metcalfe, the Conservative North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, said she expected to see “immediate change” in police response to call times after approving a £1.8 million investment in the force control room.
She added that she was “more than disappointed” with other findings in the inspector’s report.
She said:
“I’m more than disappointed with other findings in the report and I’m sure members of the public will be too. It’s unacceptable that North Yorkshire Police requires improvement in multiple areas, in particular its strategic planning, organisational management and value for money – clearly more needs to be done and is being done as I continue to hold the chief constable to account. Our police force needs to do significantly better.
“I’m confident that the chief constable is overseeing significant transformation work within North Yorkshire Police to improve these outcomes, and that since October 2022 has implemented a trusted organisational improvement plan that can be effective at pace.”