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The Care Quality Commission has been conducting focused inspections because of concerns about maternity care

By Catherine Burns & Alison Benjamin

Health Correspondent & BBC Verify

England's healthcare regulator has told BBC News that maternity units currently have the poorest safety ratings of any hospital service it inspects.

BBC analysis of Care Quality Commission (CQC) records showed it deemed two-thirds (67%) of them not to be safe enough, up from 55% last autumn.

The "deterioration" follows efforts to improve NHS maternity care, and is blamed partly on a midwife shortage.

The government said maternity care was of the "utmost importance".

The Department for Heath and Social Care (DHSC) said £165m a year was being invested in boosting the maternity workforce, but said "we know there is more to do".

The BBC's analysis also revealed the proportion of maternity units with the poorest safety ranking of "inadequate" - meaning that there is a high risk of avoidable harm to mother or baby - has more than doubled from 7% to 15% since September 2022.

The CQC, which also inspects core services such as emergency care and critical care, said the situation was "unacceptable" and "disappointing".