National survey finds Mums are confident in Shropshire maternity services
New mums in Shropshire are treated with respect and dignity, listened to and given the help they need according to a new national survey.
Those are the findings of the latest survey of women’s experiences of maternity care, published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The survey also found that women who raised concerns during their pregnancy or delivery had those concerns taken seriously and that they were spoken to in a way they could understand.
The CQC also found that women using the services provided by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, as well as rural Midwife Led Units in Oswestry, Bridgnorth and Ludlow, knew how to contact their midwife after they had gone home and were given support in helping to feed their baby both at home and out of hours.
SaTH scored 8 out of 10 or higher in 42 out of the 51 categories relating to the care of mums and babies. The Trust performed statistically better than most other trusts in 13 categories and was about the same in all the others. SaTH also saw three statistically significant improvements since the last survey in 2015, against just one statistically significant decline.
The one area where SaTH saw a significant decline compared to 2015 was in the question about what options mums-to-be were given over where to have their baby.
Jo Banks, Women and Children’s Care Group Director at SaTH, said: “We are delighted with the findings of the latest CQC survey into women’s experiences of the maternity services that we provide.
“The Trust scored 8 out of 10 or higher in the majority of the questions that women were asked about their care, and scored 9 out of 10 or higher in almost half.
“We continue to learn from the experience of women and their families as a service, and we will assess these results to see where we can improve even further.
“Of course, we are disappointed with the score we received when women were asked about the choice of where to have their baby, but the issues we have had with some of our Midwife Led Units have been well documented and proposals have been put forward by our commissioners on how best to address these.
“The results of this survey are a reflection of the care and dedication of our hard working teams, and I would like to pay tribute to them and thank all the women who took the time to take part in this survey, which is an important part of making sure our service continues to learn and improve.”
