Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust’s maternity services are continuing to performing well in comparison to other NHS Trusts across the country, according to an annual national survey.
The ‘Maternity Services Survey’ is commissioned by the independent health and social care watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC). It provides NHS Trusts with feedback about how well maternity services are meeting important performance targets and gives vital insight into the experience of new mothers.
Nationally, 129 NHS Trusts were involved in the survey, with responses coming directly from thousands of women who gave birth during February 2018.
The Trust’s performance was rated by 140 women who had given birth either at home, at Newton Abbot Community Hospital (Whitelake midwifery led unit) or at Torbay Hospital. New mums gave very positive feedback about their experiences and the Trust scored better than other Trusts in 15 of the questions and scored similarly to other organisations in 36 areas including:
- being provided with enough information to help decide on the place of birth
- being involved in the decisions made regarding care
- being listened to
- being treated with kindness and understanding
- cleanliness of the hospital room / ward
- information, active support and encouragement about feeding their baby
- receiving help and advice in the post-natal period.
- Consideration and support for emotional health
- Having skin to skin contact with baby immediately after birth
Rachael Glasson, Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Over 2000 babies are born each year within Torbay and South Devon and our team aims to support each and every mother and baby to have the best start to motherhood and life.
“We really value this open and honest feedback as it enables us to see what’s working well and what we could do even more of to support mothers throughout their pregnancy, birth and beyond.
“In our survey last year some mothers felt improvements could be made to the information they received around contraception going forward. As a result of this feedback we have developed a short video for women to watch, which can then support further discussions. This video is part of a package of videos, which we have produced in conjunction with Health and Care Videos and women can now access a whole host of information and video support with pregnancy and beyond on our website.
“Going forward we will now look at the result of this survey to look at other ways in which we can further enhance the experience of our mothers and babies.”
The new package of maternity videos includes information and advice on pregnancy, birth and post-natal support.
The videos can be found at http://videos.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk/maternity
If you would like to read the full CQC report on Torbay and South Devon maternity services this can be found at www.cqc.org.uk/publications/surveys/maternity-services-survey-2018
