Whittington Health Scores High in National Maternity Survey

The 2018 NHS Maternity Service is carried out annually by the Care Quality Commission The independent regulator of all health and social care services in England. This years’ survey results were published today.

They show that new families report that they were treated with dignity and respect 100% of the time with more than 95% reporting that they had confidence in staff at Whittington Health NHS Trust and that they were involved enough in decisions about their care.

Commenting on the survey results, Rose Hensman Associate Director of Nursing for Women’s Health, Outpatients and Diagnostics at Whittington Health said: “I am so proud to say that I work in one of the best maternity units in the country. At Whittington Health everything we do is driven by a passion for providing the best possible experience of giving birth for all of our mums so the whole team are so buzzing that our patients are telling us we are doing exactly that. I am particularly pleased that our services are also amongst the most improved nationally, demonstrating our commitment to listening to patients and always striving to improve.”

The results of the survey place Whittington Health NHS Trust which delivers around 3,700 babies each year as the 12th most improved service amongst the 129 units across the country. In particular, large improvements were reported in the number of new parents who said midwives asked about how mothers were feeling emotionally and were given advice about where to seek support if they experienced changes in their emotional wellbeing.

Mothers said that being able to have their partner with them as long as they wanted was a core strength of Whittington’s maternity service and that they were not left alone when worried. Whilst there is always room for improvement but 88% of respondents say that when they did raise issues that they were taken seriously.

In September the trust announced that work had commenced to build a brand new obstetrics theatre as well as the refurbishment of the post-natal ward as part of its continued commitment to giving mothers across North Central London the safest, highest quality maternity experience possible.

Commenting on the results of the survey at a national level, Nigel Acheson, CQC’s Deputy Chief Inspector of Hospitals and lead for Maternity, said:

“I am pleased that the findings of this year’s survey show that many women are experiencing high quality care and treatment during pregnancy and birth. This is a testament to efforts and dedication of staff working hard to provide care for pregnant women and new mothers across the country.

“It is vital NHS trusts listen to and work with those who use maternity services to fully understand what is working well and what might need to improve. I hope that trusts will make full use of their individual survey results to identify where changes can be made to ensure consistent and high-quality care for the benefit of all women and their families. This is of huge importance if we are to realise the ambition of the NHS long term plan for the best maternity care in the world.”

The full survey results can be found at: https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/surveys/maternity-services-survey-2018