Maternity survey 'shows improvements' as NHS bosses say work continues
Improvements include a pilot allowing birthing partners to stay with their birthing person 24/7
Maternity services in Plymouth have been criticised for 'holdups when leaving hospital', frequency of contact with midwives and staff not always appearing 'fully aware of women's medical histories'
The CQC Maternity survey - released now - looked at the experiences of pregnant women and new mothers who used NHS maternity services at the start of the year in February 2025.
Catherine Wilkins, Interim Director of Midwifery at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said: “The CQC survey is just one of the ways we gather feedback on the experience of families who use our services. The results help identify the areas where we have seen most improvement but also those areas where we need to apply more focus to make things better.
“Some pivotal examples of service development in the last year include a successful pilot allowing birthing partners to stay with their birthing person 24/7 to enable families to have the support and involvement with each other, as much as they need. We have also improved the formats in which information is provided, this supports personalised care planning and enables more robust and informed decision making.
She added: "In our top scoring areas women reported feeling well-supported during labour, with few being sent home when worried about themselves or their baby. Partners or support people were able to be involved in labour and birth as much as they wished, indicating strong family-centred care. Staff communicated clearly and in an understandable way helping to support informed decision-making and staff consistently introduced themselves, helping build trust and a sense of safety.
"Involvement in antenatal decision-making improved significantly, with more women feeling included in choices about their care. Confidence and trust in antenatal staff also saw a notable rise. Partner involvement during the postnatal hospital stay showed the largest improvement, with many more partners able to stay as long as needed. Personalised advice from midwives improved, with staff more often considering individual circumstances when giving guidance.
"In some of our lower performing areas of the survey discharge delays were common, with many experiencing holdups when leaving the hospital. Some women felt the frequency of contact with midwives was not aligned with their needs, wanting either more or less contact than they received and also reported that staff did not always appear fully aware of women's medical histories.
“Part of our role in delivering care is to listen and to keep listening to our patients, the results of this survey alongside other feedback show that this is what we're doing. When we work in partnership and listen to women and their families we can deliver tangible improvements for them. We know this may not be the experience for all women but where we are getting it right it's important for people to know that, especially at such an important time in their lives.”
Sarah Saxby, Transformation Midwife at University Hospitals Plymouth added: “We work closely with Devon Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership to review the free text comments from the survey which provides us with an even richer source of information through which we can drive service improvement.”
“We strive to deliver the best care for women throughout their pregnancy and beyond and the results of the survey are reassuring that we are meeting this in many areas of the care we provide. However we are not complacent and know that there is more work to do, so that we are getting it right for more women and their families.”
Lara Grigg, Senior Lead at the Devon Maternity and Neonatal Voices Partnership said: “Devon Maternity & Neonatal Voices Partnership is pleased to be working collaboratively with University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, using the voices of local families to drive positive change. We welcome the progress made in several key areas and look forward to continuing our work together to address the areas where further improvement is needed.”