Mums who gave birth at the Royal Victoria Infirmary have praised midwives in a national maternity survey.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published results of its national maternity survey today (Wednesday 11 January) – with Newcastle Hospitals being rated as much better, better or somewhat better than most trusts in a number of categories.
The survey took place in February 2022 and asked women about their experiences of care at three different stages of their maternity journey – antenatal care, labour and birth and postnatal care – and 247 women who accessed maternity care at the Royal Victoria Infirmary took part.
The maternity team at Newcastle hospitals oversee the delivery of more than 6,000 babies every year and were recognised in the report for keeping women informed about COVID-19 restrictions and how it would impact care, listening to concerns and for treating women and their families with kindness and understanding.
Those who responded to the survey also said they were confident in the midwife or midwifery team they saw and that they were treated with respect and dignity.
Results show maternity services at Newcastle Hospitals were rated much better than most trusts for 5 questions, better than most trusts for 22 questions, somewhat better than most trusts for 5 questions. Results were about the same as other trusts for 19 questions.
The Trust was rated as:
- ‘Much better’ than others at listening to women and taking any concerns raised seriously.
- ‘Much better’ than others at providing help or advice to women about feeding their baby in the first six weeks after giving birth.
- ‘Better’ than others at providing information about recovery and any changes in mental health that might be experienced after giving birth.
- ‘Better’ than others at providing help when needed.
- ‘Somewhat better’ than others in asking about mental health, providing advice about a baby’s health and progress and making sure women were involved in decisions about their care during labour and birth.
Jane Anderson, associate director of midwifery at Newcastle Hospitals said:
“I’m delighted to see the results of the survey, feedback like this is extremely important to us, not only does it help us see what is working well but also allows us to focus on continuing to improve our services. The last few years have been challenging – not only for our staff but also for those accessing our services. I want to say thank you to everyone who took the time to comment on the care they received here in Newcastle.
“As a team we pride ourselves on delivering outstanding levels of care at all stages of the maternity journey and each member of this fantastic team play an integral role in bringing high quality, compassionate care to our families.”
The full results for England, are available on the CQC’s website at www.cqc.org.uk/maternitysurvey
This is the ninth survey of its kind that CQC has carried out to help trusts better understand the experiences of women using maternity services and involved 121 NHS acute trusts. The results are used by CQC as part of its wider monitoring of hospital services and will feed into the regulators current maternity inspection programme.
