On 11 January 2023 the Care Quality Commission published their findings from the latest national maternity survey. This survey seeks to capture what people using maternity services in 2022 felt about the care they received while pregnant, during labour and delivery, and once at home in the weeks following birth.

Findings from a survey of more than 20,900 women who gave birth in February 2022 show that there has been a decline in positive responses, notably so in the number of women able to get help from staff when they needed it, compared to five years ago. There has been a decline in the number of women who felt they were "always" treated with kindness and understanding, a decline in the number of women who felt they were "always" spoken to in a way they could understand during labour and birth, and a decline in the number of women who felt their partner was able to stay with them as much as they wanted.

Whilst improvement in mental health support is reflected in the data, it is clear there is still a long way to go with a quarter of women not asked about their mental health during their antenatal check-ups.

Key findings from the survey include:

  • While the majority of women (86%) surveyed in 2022 said they were 'always' spoken to in a way they could understand during labour and birth, this was a decline from 90% who said this in 2019.
  • The proportion of respondents who felt that they were 'always' treated with kindness and understanding while in hospital after the birth of their baby remained relatively high at 71%, however, had fallen from 74% in 2017.
  • Less than half (41%) of those surveyed said their partner or someone else close to them was able to stay with them as much as they wanted during their stay in hospital. These results are still well below pre-pandemic levels (74% in 2019).
  • Just under a fifth of people who responded to the survey (19%) said they were not offered any choices about where to have their baby.
  • The proportion who said that they 'definitely' received help and advice from health professionals about their baby's health and progress after giving birth if they needed it, increased from 60% in 2021 to 63% in 2022. However, overall results since 2017 (71%) show a downward trend.
  • Less than half of respondents (45%) said they could 'always' get support or advice about feeding their baby during evenings, nights or weekends, in the six to eight-week period after having their baby – down from 56% who said this in 2017.

As an associate solicitor who specialises in birth injury claims and who is a supervisor within the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital maternity claims team, this is my view:

"Whilst it is encouraging to see that overall satisfaction remained high and the improvement in mental health support is definitely a step in the right direction, it is clear that far too many women are not receiving the care they deserve. We can all recognise that resource pressures play a key role in the level of service that can be provided but work can still be done to improve the quality of care given. We welcome the work on the CQC in amplifying the voices of women accessing maternity care and hope that the recommendations made nationally in recent maternity inquiries can help reverse the downward trend identified in this survey."

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