The results of the Care Quality Commission’s latest national maternity survey were published on Wednesday 11 January 2023. They captured the experiences of those who gave birth in England in February 2022, with the research focussing on how individuals felt about the care they received while pregnant, during labour and delivery, and once at home in the weeks following the arrival of their baby.
Key points:
- Nearly 21,000 people responded to the survey, which was almost half of those who gave birth.
- The survey sadly shows a decline in positive maternity experiences, when taking answers to the 26 survey questions into account
- This downward trend in women’s experiences escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic. By February 2022, maternity care was still being impacted by the pandemic, and had not yet been able to recover.
Areas where improvements had been made:
- More women reported that there was no delay in their discharge from hospital.
- Communication and support for mental health in antenatal and post-natal care improved.
Areas where improvements are needed:
- The availability of staff when women and birthing people needed help during antenatal care, labour, care after birth in hospital, and care after birth from home. Also, when needing advice in evenings and weekends about feeding their baby.
- Confidence and trust have subsided a little between women, birthing people, and the teams that look after them. Just over two-thirds of those surveyed (69%) reported ‘definitely’ having confidence and trust in the staff delivering their antenatal care.
- Positivity around communications and interactions with staff also declined. The majority (82%) of those who responded to the CQC’s survey said they were given appropriate advice and support, and more than three-quarters (77%) said their concerns were taken seriously; however, only 59% said they felt they were ‘always’ given the information and explanations they needed while in hospital.
Trends to note:
- Women were more likely to report positive experiences if they’d had continuity of carer or an unassisted vaginal delivery.
- Women were more likely to report negative experiences if they have emergency caesarean births, did not have a named midwife, or it was their first pregnancy.
Baby Lifeline’s response to the CQC’s survey findings:
Good care for women, birthing people, and their babies should be at the heart of all work being undertaken to improve maternity services, and Baby Lifeline will utilise these results to continue our work.
Many of these downward trends are due to the pressure on services at the moment; staff shortages, burnout, and a historic lack of funding in maternity services. Recent strike action is a further reminder that maternity care needs to be prioritised.
There is some amazing work happening in maternity across England, and it needs to be replicated and properly funded so that women and birthing people everywhere have more positive maternity experiences.