Kingston Hospital has invited an influential think tank into its maternity unit to improve safety for mothers in childbirth.

The hospital which was forced to deny safety concerns and moved to reassure mums-to-be, after an anonymous midwife wrote to the Surrey Comet, made an application to the Kings Fund and was one of 12 out of 50 applicants selected.

The Kings Fund Safer Births project aims to help hospitals tackle poor communication, make the most of staff and provide leadership.

Councillor Mary Reid, who has criticised the hospital for not having enough maternity staff over the past few years, welcomed the news.

She said: “It did appear from what we were hearing back in the summer that midwives were claiming they were already overstretched and a lot of techniques had already been put in place but they felt it had gone a bit too far.

“I would suggest the Kings Fund would be a project that would look at ways to improve performance without undermining staff morale.”

Kate Grimes, the hospital’s chief executive, said: “The benefits of being a part of this unique initiative and the opportunity to share best practice will ensure mothers and babies in the future will experience an increase in the quality of care and safety provided and will ensure that Kingston continues to be local mothers’ hospital of choice.”

A spokesman for the Kings Fund said: “We were looking for trusts that already recognised safety was an issue that could be improved more. We were looking to see where we could bring benefit. We weren’t looking for people who knew it all.”

The hospital has already reduced the number of Caesareans from 27 per cent to 24 per cent and is working to develop more community based provision.

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