Care praised by new mums as part of a national survey
Feeling that they were being listened to by our midwifes and midwifery teams is one aspect of care which been praised by new mums as part of a national survey.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) surveyed more than 270 women, almost half of which were given birth for the first time, to give an indication of the quality of care our hospital provides.
The highest scores offered by women we cared for involved supporting their mental and physical recovery from birth, as well as supporting the feeding choice for their baby. Supporting partners to stay with new mums in hospital during and after labour was also commended.
While there were positives to be gleaned from the survey, it also highlighted some of the areas for improvement, such as advice to mums on where to give birth to their baby and receiving enough support for mental health during pregnancy.
Rachel Carter, Director of Midwifery and Deputy Chief Nurse (Women's), said: “Receiving feedback from the women and the families we care for is vital as it allows us to continually improve the services that we provide. This survey is different to previous years with a far wider reach across the diverse population we serve, and an improved response rate in spite of there being a lot more questions in this survey.
“We know that there is work to do, particularly as we recover from the challenges of the past two years and we are working closely with our Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP) team to ensure the voices of our families is at the core of this. We were pleased to see the areas of positive feedback, particularly where we have endeavoured to maintain the presence of a birth partner or support person with women and with regard to elements of postnatal care.
“This survey was done in February last year when we were at the height of the second wave of the pandemic and caring for many more patients in our hospital who were testing positive for Covid-19. Our midwives and wider teams are going above and beyond to provide the very best care for our women and families in a safe environment.
“We will focus our attention on those areas where our women told us we need to do better, and ensure that our services continue to deliver safe, personalised care.”