ACTION is being taken to protect patients at an under fire maternity ward after its latest inspection.

Basildon Hospital’s maternity unit was branded as inadequate earlier this year by the care quality commission after it was found that six babies were “born in a poor condition”.

The health watchdog made a follow up inspection in September to ensure “recommendations had been implemented”, but it said it still had “ongoing concerns”.

Bosses are now taking action to “ensure patient safety” but refused to give further details ahead of the publication of the report.

A spokesman said: “We inspected maternity services at Basildon Hospital on September 18 in response to ongoing concerns and to check on whether improvements had been made following a warning notice that was served by CQC in the summer.

“As a result, we have taken action to protect the welfare of people using the service. While our legal processes do not allow us to go in to further detail at this time, a full report will be published in due course. We are working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement with regard to our ongoing concerns.”

The first visit in June was carried out after a whistleblower voiced fears about patient safety.

It followed the death of mum Gabriela Pintilie’s in February 2019. She died after losing blood and was not given enough blood to replenish her loss.

The parents of a baby who suffered severe brain damage at a maternity unit recently launched a legal case.

The hospital invested £2.5m investment which saw the employment of 23 new midwives and the provision of intense staff training.

Clare Panniker, chief executive for Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, said: “We await the final copy of our CQC report, but have taken action following initial feedback to improve our services, and will continue to do so. These include introducing a new system to remotely monitor heart rates of babies, running additional training for more than 200 colleagues in high-risk baby areas, and having more consultants available on our labour wards.”