The findings from a survey of more than 20,900 women who gave birth in February 2022 show fewer reporting positively about their experience of maternity care, with a notable decline in the number able to get help from staff when they needed it, compared to five years ago.
The Care Quality Commission’s latest national maternity survey 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 the arrival of their baby.
This year’s results show that many respondents were still positive about their interactions with staff.
Mostsaid midwives ‘always’ listened to them at their antenatal check-ups and just under three-quarters said they were ‘always’ involved in decisions about their postnatal care.
The results also show slight improvements compared to previous years – with an increase in the number of women who said they experienced no delay in their discharge from hospital (up from 55% in 2017 to 62% in 2022).
In 2022, nearly three-quarters said their midwife definitely asked about their mental health during antenatal check-ups; compared with 69% who said this in 2021 and 67% in 2019. And, 85% felt they were given enough support for their mental health during their pregnancy; compared with 83% in 2021.
However, for some women the care they received fell short of expectations and satisfaction levels have fallen in many question areas. Of those questions where positive results have seen a downward trend, results for 2022 were at the lowest point since 2017 in 10 cases.
The proportion of respondents who said they were given appropriate advice and support when they contacted a midwife or hospital at the start of their labour dropped from 87% in 2017 to 82% in 2022. And in 2022, fewer people surveyed felt they were ‘always’ given the information and explanations they needed while in hospital – 66% in 2017 compared to 59% in 2022.
Availability of staff was also an area where more people expressed concern. In 2022, those surveyed were less likely to say they were ‘always’ able to get a member of staff to help them when they needed attention during labour and birth; 63% compared with 65% in 2021 and 72% in 2019. Results were lower still for care in hospital after the birth; with 57% who said they were ‘always’ able to get help – compared with 59% in 2021 and 62% in 2019.
Victoria Vallance, CQC’s Director of Secondary and Specialist Care, said:
“It is good to see that satisfaction among many of those surveyed remains high and there are some improvements in terms of mental health support and hospital discharge delays – despite challenges that we know services are facing. However, these results show that far too many women feel their care could have been better.
“The trend analysis carried out this year reveals a concerning decline over time, particularly in relation to accessing information and support and getting help when it was most needed. This reflects the increasing pressures on frontline staff as they continue in their efforts to provide high quality maternity care with the resources available. It also echoes what maternity staff attending CQC’s roundtable event last year told us about the exceptionally demanding circumstances in which they are operating and the need for greater support to help manage the challenges they face.
“It is vital that we listen to those who use and work in maternity services to understand what makes a good experience and what needs to improve. This will help ensure we can better support staff to provide the level of care that they want to be able to deliver every time and ensure a consistently good maternity experience for everyone. I hope that all trusts will use their individual survey results to help identify what changes can be made to drive up quality in their own services.
“CQC is committed to doing all we can to help accelerate those improvement efforts. We recently began a new programme of maternity inspections which has a strong focus on capturing the experience of women and families. These inspections are providing an up to date assessment of the quality and safety of all NHS hospital maternity services across England so we can identify what works well and share that good practice to support learning and improvement at a local and national level.”
