Maternity survey

What is the Maternity survey?

There were more than 5,700 deliveries in Maternity in 2010/11—this figure includes both NHS and Private Maternity Unit deliveries.

Women who gave birth either at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital or at home with Chelsea and Westminster midwives in February 2011 were sent a survey inviting them to comment on their care.

This survey were carried out by the Picker Institute on behalf of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

How do women rate their care overall?

• 96% of women rated their care during pregnancy as ‘Excellent’, ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’—compared with 91% in 2010
• 94% of women rated their care during labour and birth as ‘Excellent’, ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’—the same as in 2010
• 80% of women rated their hospital care after the birth as ‘Excellent’, ‘Very good’ or ‘Good’—compared with 77% in 2010

What do women rate highly?

Areas of significant improvement since the same survey was carried out in 2010 include midwives and other staff giving practical assistance and consistent advice to help women feed their babies, and the length of time that women spend in hospital after they give birth.

What do women think we could do better?

The main areas for improvement identified by women in the maternity survey were:

• Facilities (especially cleanliness)
• Information and communication
• Continuity of care for women during pregnancy

How are we addressing areas for improvement raised in the survey?

Actions taken to address these areas include:

Facilities

• Major refurbishment of the Antenatal Clinic completed in summer 2011
• Refurbishment of bathrooms on the postnatal ward to make wet rooms
• Opening of a new Birthing Unit for women with uncomplicated pregnancies who are expecting a normal delivery
• Introduction of a 24-hour housekeeping (cleaning) role on Labour Ward

Information and communication

• Development of a postnatal DVD given to new parents when they leave hospital
• A video and virtual tour of the Maternity Unit on the Trust website
• Reworking of written information for new parents to make it clearer

Continuity of care

• Development of a more stable workforce by reducing the midwife vacancy rate and therefore reducing the reliance on temporary agency staff
• Launch of a Maternity Support Worker Strategy to ‘upskill’ support workers so that midwives can focus on providing the care that only they can provide

Further information

• Maternity survey (PDF)