St George’s Hospital failed to tell the patient safety regulator about serious computer problems in its maternity unit during 2025 – despite its own internal papers documenting faults that put mothers and babies at risk.
The hospital downgraded its assessment of how dangerous the faults were – from 12 (high risk) to 8 (moderate risk). At 12, the problems would have required reporting to the Care Quality Commission. At 8, they didn’t. Board papers reported the same faults as “high risk”.
The Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) systems at the centre of the issue are critical for identifying patients whose condition is worsening and who may need urgent medical intervention. The fault affected St George’s maternity department, where rapid detection of deterioration can be life-saving.
The hospital claims “formally alerting the CQC about operational risks is not expected practice” and briefed NHS England’s Maternity Safety Support Programme instead of the patient safety regulator.
The Care Quality Commission has the power to issue warning notices and suspend hospital services. St George’s maternity unit was rated “inadequate” by the CQC in 2023 and received a formal Warning Notice demanding urgent safety improvements – making the decision not to report further high-risk problems in the same department particularly significant.
No Protocol for CQC Reporting
When Putney.news asked through a Freedom of Information request if St George’s has a written protocol specifying when clinical IT faults must be reported to the CQC, the Trust provided an 80-page generic risk management policy containing no specific criteria for regulatory notification of IT system failures.
The response, which arrived 25 working days late, stated the Trust “holds no records to indicate this issue was reported directly to the Care Quality Commission.”
St George’s justified not reporting the MEWS fault by explaining it had reduced the risk score “based on the most likely outcome rather than the worst-case scenario” through measures including one-to-one midwife staffing, local standard operating procedures, and regular audits.
The Trust did not explain whether these mitigations fixed the underlying software fault or simply provided workarounds while the system remained faulty.
Semantic Deflection
When asked how many high-risk clinical IT faults it had classified in 2025, St George’s refused to provide a number, instead stating: “These are not classified as faults but as risks associated with system transition and new ways of working.”
The semantic distinction allowed the Trust to report zero high-risk “faults” to the CQC while simultaneously documenting “high risk” issues in board papers.
The iClip electronic patient record system also experienced CTG storage problems – affecting cardiotocography data used to monitor fetal heart rates during labour – as we reported in December.
The December investigation found the maternity IT faults had persisted for ten months, with staff forced to save critical monitoring data to USB sticks and over 1,400 patient records stuck between the old and new systems.
Wider Context
The disclosure follows our ongoing investigation into St George’s institutional accountability.
In November, the CQC rated the Trust’s leadership as “requires improvement” after finding staff too afraid to raise patient safety concerns and leaders lacking “clear oversight of safety risks.”
The Trust is currently refusing to provide information about its response to an Emergency Nurse Practitioner whose registration was suspended by the NMC after more than 60 clinical failings, citing data protection exemptions (FOI 5683/5877).
The pattern suggests institutional reluctance to engage with external oversight bodies on patient safety matters.
The CQC is the independent regulator responsible for monitoring NHS trusts’ compliance with fundamental standards of quality and safety. Systematic under-reporting of high-risk clinical IT issues could prevent the regulator from identifying safety concerns across the health system.
NHS Digital Transformation Stakes
St George’s response raises wider questions about governance of clinical IT safety as the NHS accelerates digital transformation. Trusts across England are implementing electronic patient record systems affecting millions of patients, but reporting standards for serious IT faults appear unclear.
Putney.news will challenge the Trust’s response through an internal review, questioning whether a generic risk management policy constitutes an adequate protocol for regulatory reporting of clinical IT failures.
