Maternity care is improving but more needs to be done to stop mothers being left alone in labour, and help them adopt active birthing positions and feed their baby, the NHS watchdog said today.
Although more than nine out of 10 women say they were well looked after, maternity services in England need to instigate improvements in some key areas, according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The regulator demanded action after a survey of 25,000 mothers gave the NHS a mixed report card. The proportion of women who rated their overall care as good or better stands at 92%, slightly higher than when a similar exercise was undertaken in 2007, and there have been some encouraging improvements.
But the NHS needs to work harder to ensure that care during labour, birth and the postnatal period helps mothers feel properly supported during a very demanding time in their lives, the CQC added.
More women than in 2007 are having a dating scan, being offered a choice of place of birth – including a home birth – and are being talked to by staff during their pregnancy in a way they understand.
In addition, there have been rises in the proportion of women who said they were always involved in decisions about their care (67% up to 74%), got the pain relief they wanted (64% up to 65%) and had confidence and trust in the midwives, doctors and nurses looking after them (68% up to 73%).
But the report, based on detailed questionnaires completed by about 25,000 women who gave birth at 144 NHS trusts in January and February, highlights some continuing failings of care.
• Although the percentage of women who say they were left alone during labour and found it worrying has fallen, more than one in five still report this (22%).
• Too many women gave birth lying down (38%) or in stirrups (16%), in contravention of National Institute of health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) guidelines, which encourage active birthing positions.
• Postnatal care is not good enough, with too few women given the information and advice they need when they get home. The parenting charity the NCT heavily criticised postnatal care in a recent report.
• 8% of women said they were not given the name and number of a midwife to contact during their pregnancy if they had concerns.
The Department of Health said the findings would help the NHS to make improvements where needed. "All mothers should expect consistently excellent maternity services. We welcome these results which reflect the dedicated efforts of NHS staff and will help trusts, midwives and doctors identify where improvements can be made," said a spokesman.
"We want to extend choice for women by developing local maternity networks. These networks will bring together all the services a woman may need, before and after giving birth, ensuring they receive the best information and expertise and are given the safe, high quality maternity services that families want," he added.
The CQC website has more info, including how your local hospital performed. You will be able to find trust-by-trust comparative data and each trust's individual reports.
