A survey of women’s experiences of maternity services across England has shown that many had a good experience at the RUH in Bath, better than other hospital trusts across a number of measures.
The findings are included in the national and annual Care Quality Commission (CQC) 2018 Survey of Women’s Experience of Maternity Care.
The survey looked at the whole experience of maternity care, from ante-natal care through to labour and birth, care in hospital after birth and care at home after the birth.
The RUH scored better than the national average in four areas, including: ‘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?’ and ‘If you contacted a midwife were you given the help you needed?’.
Other areas where the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust was rated above other trusts were: ‘Were you offered any of the following choices about where to have your baby?’ and ‘Thinking about the care you received in hospital after the birth of your baby, were you treated with kindness and understanding?’.
Lisa Cheek, RUH Director of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “We deliver almost 5000 babies a year to mothers at home, at the RUH, or in our Birthing Centres.
“These are encouraging survey results and an endorsement of the continuing care and professionalism of our staff towards women and their families.
“We will examine the information from the survey and identify any areas where we can further improve the services we provide.”
Sarah Merritt, Head of Nursing and Midwifery, said: “We are very pleased that the survey shows women rating our staff highly for providing care with respect and dignity, for their kindness and understanding, and for saying that they had trust and confidence in our staff during their labour.
“This is valuable feedback that we will act upon to provide an even better experience for those using our services in the future.”
The 2018 Maternity Survey is part of a national survey programme run by the CQC to collect feedback on the experiences of people using a range of NHS healthcare services across the country.
A total of 170 RUH Trust maternity service users responded to the survey – a response rate of 51.83 per centre, higher than the national average of 36.8 per cent.
