28
Jul
Harrogate maternity ward’s new system to see pregnant women within 15 minutes
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The maternity team at Harrogate District Hospital has launched a new triage system that ensures pregnant women are seen by a midwife within 15 minutes of arrival.
The Birmingham Symptom-Specific Obstetric Triage System allows patients to be prioritised according to their needs.
As part of the new process, a dedicated urgent bed bay has been introduced, and after being assessed women will be given a priority category.
The initial assessment will involve a set of tests, including checking maternal baseline observations, pain levels, abdominal palpation, and fetal heart rate.
This new system supports safer patient care by enabling timely assessment and treatment, ensuring those with serious issues aren't stuck at the back of a queue.
The news comes soon after the Care Quality Commission raised the rating for the hospital's maternity services from 'requires improvement' to 'good', following a re-inspection in January 2026.
During the recent inspection one area for improvement included ensuring women didn’t wait in the maternity assessment centre for too long.
A spokesperson for the CQC said:
We were concerned that the service didn't always have a good overview of how long women had been waiting in the maternity assessment centre. This meant some people faced delays in being reviewed by doctors, which could put them at risk of harm.
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