The Care Quality Commission’s 2023 Maternity Survey results show STSFT as one of only eight trusts across the country with better than expected results.
The scores for South Tyneside and Sunderland have improved in many areas and people rated STSFT better than most other trusts in the country in seven areas:
- Pain management during labour and birth (4 out of 10)
- Partners being involved as much as they wanted during labour and birth (9 out of 10)
- Clear communication during labour and birth (7 out of 10)
- People having the opportunity to ask questions about their labour and birth (3 out of 10)
- Partners being able to stay as much as they wanted (9 out of 10)
- Staff being aware of medical history (1 out of 10)
- Staff taking into account personal circumstances when giving advice (2 out of 10)
STSFT was also rated somewhat better in five areas:
- Staff introducing themselves (5 out of 10)
- Not being left alone by midwives or doctors when worried (4 out of 10)
- Receiving information and explanations after the birth (1 out of 10)
- Being treated with kindness and understanding after the birth (9 out of 10)
- Having confidence and trust in the midwifery team after going home (9 out of 10)
Melanie Johnson, Executive Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are delighted to have such positive feedback from the people who use our maternity services and to be recognised as one of the best performing Trusts nationally. These results are testament to the efforts of our entire maternity team.
“Our community midwives and our hospital based teams have worked incredibly hard over the past two years to improve the service we offer and it’s great to see their efforts being recognised by the people who use our services. We’re incredibly proud to work with such loyal and dedicated colleagues.
“Welcoming a new life into the world is such an important and personal time and listening to people’s feedback about their experiences is really important to us. We will continue to learn and improve from what today’s results are telling us.”
The CQC maternity survey was sent to new parents across the country after they welcomed a new-born last February. The responses to the survey nationally will be used to help build an understanding of the risk and quality of services offered by the NHS. The questions looked to find out about peoples’ experiences in the lead up to the birth, labour and birth and then the postnatal care offered after they had delivered their baby.
Leaders in the North East and North Cumbria will also be looking at the results across the region to further improve local services.
Ken Bremner MBE, is Chair of the North East and North Cumbria Provider Collaborative. He said: “All of our Trusts in the North East and North Cumbria have scored highly in the feedback received about maternity care and to have three Trusts recognised amongst the best performing nationally, really is great news.
“On behalf of all NHS providers in the region I would like to thank the thousands of highly committed NHS staff who work across our maternity services. These results are down to you. It is no secret that maternity services have been under the spotlight nationally across the whole NHS in recent years but as a region we are committed to providing the very highest quality of safe maternity care.
“We will continue to learn, improve and share best practice across our Provider Collaborative so that we collectively continue to provide the best possible maternity experience for people living in the North East and North Cumbria.”
To see the full results visit: Maternity survey 2023 – Care Quality Commission (cqc.org.uk)
