New mums score Harrogate NHS trust’s Maternity services “better than most other trusts” in national survey

Posted on: Tuesday 29 Jan 2019

Maternity services in Harrogate have been scored highly by new mums as part of a national survey by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – with Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust performing “better than most other Trusts” on a number of questions.

The CQC’s 2018 Maternity Survey – newly published this week – shows that the Trust’s maternity services are performing highly – with scores “better than most Trusts” on a number of questions and high scores on others.

The 2018 survey of women’s experiences of maternity care involved 129 NHS acute trusts in England. In Harrogate, 135 responses were received from women who used the Trust’s maternity services, with a response rate of 51 per cent, well above the national average. The survey asks questions relating to the mums’ experiences of maternity care while using the service, including care in hospital and at home and their experiences of staff. The average scores have been generated out of 10.

The Trust “were better than most trusts” for eight questions – with new mothers scoring the Trust 10/10 on a question relating to them being able to contact the service once they were home. These better results are:

  • At the very start of your labour, did you feel that you were given appropriate advice and support when you contacted a midwife or the hospital? Rated 9.4/10 overall.
  • If you needed attention during labour and birth, were you able to get a member of staff to help you within a reasonable time? 9.4/10
  • Thinking about your care during labour and birth, were you treated with respect and dignity? 9.8/10
  • If you needed attention while you were in hospital after the birth, were you able to get a member of staff to help you within a reasonable time? 8.4/10
  • Thinking about the care you received in hospital after the birth of your baby, were you given the information or explanations you needed? 8.6/10
  • Did you feel that midwives and other health professionals gave you active support and encouragement about feeding your baby? 8.5/10
  • When you were at home after the birth of your baby, did you have a telephone number for a midwife or midwifery team that you could contact? 10/10
  • Did a midwife tell you that you would need to arrange a postnatal check-up of your own health with your GP? (around 6-8 weeks after the birth). 9.8/10

The results also show that in the ‘Labour and birth’ and ‘Care in hospital after the birth’ sections of the survey, the Maternity service is performing better when compared with results from the previous year.

Alison Pedlingham, Head of Midwifery for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to see that we are performing better than other trusts on a number of questions in the CQC’s 2018 Maternity Survey. The results of the survey show that the hard work and dedication of all our Maternity staff is recognised by new mums who have used our services and given birth with us.

“We are particularly pleased to see that we are performing better in two of the question categories when compared to the previous years’ results. Thank you to all of those who took the time to respond to the survey and to help us identify what we are doing right and where we can make further improvements to our Maternity Services.”

View the full report here.

ENDS

Notes to editors: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and social care in England. Its survey received responses from 17,611 women nationally, and women were eligible for the survey if they had a live birth during February 2018, were aged 16 years or older, and gave birth in a hospital, birth centre, maternity unit, or at home. Fieldwork for the survey (the time during which questionnaires were sent out and returned) took place between April and August 2018.

For further information please contact:

Jamie Wright, Communications and Marketing Assistant, [email protected] and 01423 557732.