The Liverpool Women's Hospital is a very special place.

Most people with links to this city also have a link to the Women's. They may have been born there, given birth there or had life-saving care at the hands of its skilled and caring workforce.

In this city we are extremely fortunate to be home to the largest Women's Hospital in Europe and one of only two trusts in the UK that specializes in obstetrics, gynaecology and neonatal research. It is a place where amazing people do amazing things, where lives are started, saved and transformed.

READ MORE: Staff shortages at Liverpool Women's Hospital 'increased risks' to patients

But like the rest of our National Health Service, the Women's is in a tough spot right now.

A latest inspection by the Care Quality Commission, the healthcare watchdog, found that staffing shortages at the Crown Street hospital had led to increased risks for patients.

The report, published last month, was based on an inspection of maternity services that took place in January - at the height of the winter NHS crisis. This newspaper and many others reported widely on the scenes inside our hospitals as things reached breaking point in those cold and hopeless months.

The CQC report rated the Women's as 'requires improvement' in the areas of service leadership and safety, which will obviously come as a blow to all those dedicating themselves to the care provided in this hospital and to those relying on it. It is something trust bosses say is being addressed.

But when you dig into the key concerns raised in the CQC report, there is one familiar word that stands out to anyone who has covered the crisis in our health services in recent years - staffing. One line states: "Frequent staff shortages increased risks to women and birthing people across the maternity service.”

Another section reads: "The service did not always have enough maternity staff to keep women safe from avoidable harm and to provide the right care and treatment. Staffing levels did not always match the planned numbers.”

There are of course some specific issues raised regarding the operation at the Women's, but everywhere you look through the report comes the issue of staffing. This is a huge issue for this hospital and all NHS hospitals in this country right now.

Last year saw a record exodus of NHS workers, with 170,000 quitting their posts. Like many hospitals, the Women's registered its own highest numbers of departing staff.

It's a vicious circle. When tired, demoralised and underpaid staff leave a hospital because they are struggling or burnt out, it makes it more likely that those who remain will struggle and are also more likely to feel burnt out themselves by the added pressures. It also means, as we saw in the Women's report, that the service and care could become less safe at times.

If you have spent any time on picket lines with striking NHS workers in recent months, you will know that those workers have been fighting for a lot more than their own pay packets. The strikes have been about the very future of the NHS, because those working inside it know how hard things are and how increasingly difficult it is to get people to come and work in the service.

Work is already well underway to tackle the staffing issues at the Women's. The Trust said that since the inspection took place in January, recruitment drives had reduced midwife vacancy to 4.9% by May 2023 and improved the time women wait to be initially assessed with 99.9% within 30 minutes of arrival.

Let's hope this continues, because we all know how important the heroic work of midwives is to this hospital and to this city.

A glance at the comments on our initial story about the recent report gives an insight into just how many people have been helped at this unique hospital, how grateful people in this city are to have it - and how much pressure those providing this care are under.

Georgina Cook said: "The staff were amazing when I had my son, one of 30 baby’s born that day , there’s good and bad experiences in all hospitals, just a pity the government don’t want to help the NHS so the poor staff are stretched." Siobhan O'Hara agreed, adding: "Amazing midwives, doctors and nurses but they are so are stretched it’s untrue."

Stephanie Taylor said: "I’ve had two of my babies here and the staff were phenomenal both times. Second time in and you can clearly see they really are stretched out for staff, it’s not the workers fault the government aren’t looking after the NHS."

Elizabeth Jane put it particularly well when she said: "They delivered my little boy two months ago via emergency c section and were absolutely amazing. NHS is so stretched at the moment, I'm thankful for every single member of staff."

These women and countless others know how lucky we are too have this hospital in our city and the remarkable people working within it.

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