Positive results in CQC survey of maternity services
A national survey of maternity services has produced positive results for maternity services at Wirral Women and Children’s Hospital, part of Wirral University Teaching Hospital. The Trust performance was reported as better than the majority of the 122 hospitals surveyed, in response to several questions.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey was carried out in February 2021, when COVID-19 precautions and restrictions meant a change to the way the midwifery team cared for their patients and families.
The CQC use a series of bandings to define the quality of care given patients. When they were asked if their partner or someone close to them was able to stay with them when they were in hospital, the patients’ responses showed that the Trust provides ‘Much Better’ than the average score for their care for expectant and new mums. Although COVID-19 guidelines mean there are visitor restrictions, birth partners are able to come into hospital and for ante-natal appointments with the mum to be and to stay during labour and the baby’s birth.
The Trust was also rated ‘Much Better’ than the majority of Trusts by patients, when asked if they were spoken to in a way they could understand, during labour and birth.
The new mums’ responses to two further questions, ‘Did you feel that the midwife or midwifery team that you saw or spoke to always listened to you?’ and ‘Did you have confidence and trust in the midwife or midwifery team you saw or spoke to after going home?’, resulted in a ‘Better than most’ rating. For the remaining questions, the Trust was rated “about the same” as the average.
The survey is split into 8 section headings to identify the women’s maternity experience. Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) was banded as “somewhat better” for the section “Care in hospital after birth”.
During the last year the Wirral Maternity Team delivered 3084 babies with 94 home / community births.
Debbie Edwards, Director of Midwifery at Wirral University Teaching Hospital, said: “It’s good to see the positive responses from the patients in our care. I’m very pleased that the hard work and dedication of the Wirral Maternity Team is recognised, especially at this time, when the service has been under pressure and also coping with the pandemic.
“We are continuing to restrict access to the hospital, in order to reduce the risk of infection. We are grateful to everyone for their understanding and for helping us to maintain the safety of our patients, staff and their families.”
“We are committed to continuous improvement in the care we offer and will look in detail at the survey report, to identify those areas where we can make further progress.”