Maternity services at the RD&E rated highly by local mums

Maternity services at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust have been rated highly by local mums in the 2018 National Maternity Survey.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey asked women about their experience of antenatal care, care during labour and birth, and postnatal care. Across the country, responses were received from more than 17,000 women who gave birth in February 2018 in services run by 129 NHS trusts.

157 mothers who were cared for by RD&E midwives gave their feedback on maternity services provided by the Trust at Wonford Hospital, Tiverton, Okehampton and Honiton.

A score of 8.9, out of a possible 10, was given to questions about the mums’ experiences of labour and birth. Staff were rated highly with a total score of 9.0 out of 10, and care in hospital after the birth was rated at 7.3.

In terms of women feeling that they were offered enough information to enable them to decide where to have their baby, the RD&E was the highest performing trust nationally with 80.5% of mums agreeing with the statement. As well as this, the Trust scored better than the national average on five questions, including whether new mums were asked how they were feeling emotionally during antenatal check-ups, which increased significantly from 7.9 in the 2017 survey to 9.0 this year.

Other areas which scored better than average included whether new mums felt that they were spoken to in a way they could understand and whether they were involved in decisions about their care during labour and birth and throughout their antenatal care.

Jo Bassett, Deputy Head of Midwifery and Gynaecology at the RD&E said: “We are delighted to hear the views of the women who use our services and feel that this feedback reflects the hard work and dedication of our teams to provide safe, high quality care. This survey creates an ideal opportunity for us to gain valuable feedback which we use to help us make improvements and ensure our service is receptive to the experiences of women and their families locally.”

To see the RD&E results in more detail please visit the CQC website www.cqc.org.uk