The Care Quality Commission (CQC) maternity survey has been published today (Thursday 28 November) highlighting women’s experiences of antenatal, labour and postnatal care.
During 2024, a questionnaire was sent to all women in 120 Trusts who gave birth in January and February 2024. Almost 19,000 women took part nationally and responses were received from 125 women at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, who took the opportunity to share their experiences.
The maternity survey asks women about their care at three different stages of their maternity journey: during antenatal care, labour and birth and postnatal care.
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust scored better compared to other trusts for women’s experiences of being cared for by maternity staff during labour and birth, with higher scores from women having the attention they needed during labour and birth, for partners being involved as much as they wanted in labour and birth and being spoken to in a way they could understand, with good communication.
Director of Midwifery, Sarah Simpson and Miss Sumita Bhuiya, Clinical Director for Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said on behalf of the clinical leadership and Obstetric team:
“We want to thank all our service users who shared their experiences for this survey, it’s a very important part of how we want to work together to transform our services, with women and families being at the centre.
We are really pleased that the survey reflects how we continue to support women and their partners in labour; providing them with personalised, kind and compassionate care and that many women felt actively involved in decision making. Positively, out of 63 questions, the service is in the top 20% for 7 of them and is benchmarking average for the remaining. The survey has of course identified areas for further improvements of which include communication and how we create more opportunities for women to ask questions, families feeling more involved in decisions around care provided, partners being able to stay as much as they wish, improved discharge processes and infant feeding support.
We do strive to work very closely with women in offering individualised care that is right for them and to continue to do this and be responsive to feedback; we are working closely with our Local Maternity, Neonatal Partnership Group and this joint relationship is flourishing. It is really important to us that our service users voices are heard as this will assist with our ongoing improvements to the service, facilities and environment.
If any women or their families have any questions during their maternity care, we would encourage them to contact us, their doctor or midwife who will be there to help. This survey is just one of many ways that we listen, learn and improve and women can also share any feedback with our patient advice and liaison service or via the feedback form on our website..
If any women do want to get involved in any of our work please get in touch with us by emailing anhsft.parenteducation@nhs.net.”
