The findings of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) latest annual national maternity survey published on 9 February 2024 show that, whilst there has been some improvement in maternity experiences, care was still falling short in some respects.
This was the tenth survey of its kind carried out by the CQC in an attempt to help NHS Trusts better understand the experiences of women and people using their services.
The survey asked women who gave birth in February 2023 how they felt about the care they received while pregnant, in the hospital during and after labour, and once at home in the weeks following the arrival of their baby.
Following continued scrutiny of maternity services across the country, it is interesting to see the results.
Results show some improvements
It is pleasing to see that there were some improvements in results compared to previous surveys.
In particular:
- Most people surveyed said they were always given time to ask questions or discuss their pregnancy at antenatal check-ups.
- Most said they were given appropriate advice and support when they contacted a midwife or the hospital in early labour.
- Four in five felt any concerns they raised during labour and birth were taken seriously by staff.
- Three-quarters said their midwife definitely asked about their mental health during antenatal check-ups, and 88% felt they were given enough support for their mental health throughout pregnancy.
Care still falling short
Despite some improvements being noted, the long-term trend still shows that satisfaction levels have fallen over time in many areas. For some women and people who used maternity services, there was still a feeling that care fell short of expectations.
25% of people surveyed said that they were left alone at some point during, or shortly after, the birth of their baby at a time when it worried them. This was a higher proportion than those who said this in 2018 and 2019.
In addition, only 55% of respondents felt that they had been able to get a member of staff to help them when they needed it while in hospital after giving birth. Sadly, 10% of respondents said that they were unable to get help at all.
Around 32% of those surveyed said that they would have liked to have had contact with a midwife more often.
28% felt that they were not always treated with kindness or understanding while in hospital after giving birth.
Analysis of the survey results at a national level shows that those who had a higher frequency of contact with the same midwife during their antenatal check-ups were more positive about their experiences for nearly all questions.
Deputy Chief Executive of the CQC, Kate Terroni, said:
“…it’s very clear that far too many women and people using maternity services feel their care could have been better. Positive feedback about the availability of staff and being able to get help or speak to a midwife while in hospital has declined over time. This echoes what we’re hearing directly from front line staff – many of whom have shared their own concerns about the impact of staff shortages on their ability to provide care.
It is vital that we listen to those who use and work in maternity services to understand what makes a good experience and what needs to improve. This will help ensure we can better support staff to provide the level of care that they want to be able to deliver every time and ensure a consistently good maternity experience for everyone. We will continue to report on the findings from our recent national maternity inspection programme to highlight where we find action is needed as well as where we see things working well. Alongside this I hope that all trusts will use their individual survey results to help identify what changes can be made to drive up quality in their own services.”
Comment
Initiatives such as this from the CQC are clearly vital in highlighting to NHS Trusts not only where services can be improved, but also where things are going well.
Given the ongoing issues with maternity services at present, it is absolutely imperative that hospital trusts are responsive to such invaluable insight and information, and look to make changes to ensure that improvements are made where necessary.
The scrutiny of maternity services is unlikely to end any time soon and it will be very interesting to see the results of future surveys to understand whether action is being taken to give patients the best possible care and treatment.
How can we help?
Danielle Young is a Legal Director in our Medical Negligence team, which is ranked in Tier One by the independently researched publication, The Legal 500.
If you have any questions about the subjects discussed in this article, please contact Danielle or another team member in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.
Contact us