A FRESH approach to leadership is now in place in a hospital trust’s maternity services after it was told it must improve by a watchdog.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs hospitals in Colchester, Harwich, Clacton and Ipswich, says it has created a ground-breaking new role which will increase support available to staff, parents and babies.

Four new appointments in total will work across all ESNEFT sites, including director of midwifery Ros Bullen-Bell, head of midwifery Dee Macey, Better Birth lead Nicola Heath and professional midwifery advocate Caro Daniels.

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It comes after the trust saw its maternity services rated as requiring improvement by the Care Quality Commission last year after it was found it did not always have enough staff to care for women and keep them safe.

Giles Thorpe, the trust’s chief nurse, said: “I am excited about the strength of our new maternity leadership team.

“Given the significant changes in the maternity department and the continued focus on providing pregnant people and their children with consistent high standards of care, there has never been a more important time to have a robust leadership team in place.”