NewsHealthPregnancyCare Quality Commission reports that hospital midwives were made to work dangerous shift patterns after ‘staff told us this meant they were awake for more than 24 hours’11:23, 04 Jun 2026Hospital midwives were told to work double shifts with no sleep, meaning they were awake for more than 24 hours, an NHS inspector has found.The dangerously long shifts were identified at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, which was also failing to triage pregnant women on time and not properly reporting delays to induction of labour as incidents. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comes after a series of maternity scandals at short-staffed trusts around the country. Later this month a national investigation will report its findings into NHS maternity care with staffing levels expected to feature.The latest CQC report found managers were redeploying community staff to fill hospital shifts overnight during busy periods "which resulted in extended periods without rest". It added: "Staff told us this meant they were awake for more than 24 hours, which they felt impacted their wellbeing and patient safety. This posed a risk as evidence shows that fatigue can cause mistakes that lead to harm.”A national NHS maternity probe chaired by Baroness Valerie Amos will deliver its findings later this month outlining why mums and babies are still needlessly dying during childbirth. It will look at some of the issues identified in the latest CQC report such as not reporting all delays in induction of labour as incidents.Despite this, the CQC rated the overall maternity unit, including at its Horton General Hospital run by the Oxford trust, as “good”, up from “requires improvement” before. However at the John Radcliffe the safety of maternity services was rated as “requires improvement”.Amanda Williams, CQC deputy director, said: "When we inspected maternity services at both John Radcliffe and Horton General hospitals, it was encouraging to see that some improvements had been made. We found services being delivered by caring and supportive staff who treated women as individuals, involving them in decisions about their care.She added: "John Radcliffe was a busy unit operating under significant pressure, and systems to keep women and their babies safe didn't always work consistently well under that pressure.”Article continues belowFollowing the CQC investigation, the trust said it would end such gruelling shift patterns and ensure that “if the shift occurs after midnight the midwife is entitled to a compensatory rest period the following day”.Simon Crowther, interim chief executive officer at the trust, said: "We take these findings very seriously and we have already begun work to address them. It is important that we tackle these areas with urgency and embed the changes needed to build on the progress which has been made. We remain committed to driving further improvement and will continue to work closely with women, families, staff and partner organisations to deliver the safe, high-quality care that our service users, families and communities deserve.”Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌NHSCare Quality CommissionOxford UniversityJohn RadcliffeHospitalsPregnancyPeriods