A damning report criticising the deaths of five mothers at Croydon University Hospital’s maternity unit has put its bid for foundation status (FT) back by several months.

The hospital hoped to gain FT, which would give it more freedom over spending its money, by October, but must now wait until the Department of Health has received assurances about standards in its maternity service.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) report found the hospital was not meeting six key standards and said it must act immediately to address a shortage of midwives.

A separate CQC report into three of the five maternal deaths at the hospital last year said at least one was avoidable and there was a lack of optimum care in all three cases.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of Croydon Health Services, said the hospital had already begun working to raise maternity standards before the report was published, and added more midwives had been hired.

He said the hospital had to hand over its £4.5m operational surplus to the Strategic Health Authority last year, a situation that would end when it goes it alone under FT.

He said: “We’re going to go for ourselves because we believe Croydon, which is bigger than Leicester or Nottingham, is a big, big city and warrants and deserves an independent healthcare provider.

“If we were merged with another organisation, the board of that organisation would not have 100 per cent of its time and resources spent on the people of Croydon.

“If we become an FT we continue to focus on the health of the people of Croydon and become more accountable to residents.”

The Croydon NHS Trust now has more than 5,000 members of its FT organisation, who are all eligible to stand as governors to hold management to account.

All hospitals must become FTs by March 2014 under new rules laid out in a Government white paper last year.

More information is available at croydonhealthservices.nhs.uk.