Maternity services at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust have been rated highly by local people in the 2023 National Maternity Survey.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey asked about experiences of antenatal care, care during labour and birth, and postnatal care. Across the country, responses were received from 25,515 people who had a baby in January and February 2023.
131 people who were cared for by Torbay and South Devon midwives gave their feedback on maternity services provided locally. This gave a response rate of 51% which is above the average rate.
The findings of the 2023 maternity survey suggest that experience of care overall is positive. Torbay and South Devon maternity services performed much better than expected when compared to other trusts in the experience of labour and birth. They also scored in the top 20% of trusts in 44% of the questions asked.
| Where experience is best | Where experience could improve |
| Information and advice around discussing induction of labour | Having the opportunity to ask as many questions as they would have liked |
| Partners being involved during labour and birth | Partners being able to stay as much as they would have liked following the birth |
| Being treated with kindness respect and dignity | Not being left alone at a time that concerned them |
| Cleanliness of the room or ward area |
Jo Bassett, Director of Midwifery and Gynaecology at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are delighted to hear the views of the families who use our services and feel that this feedback reflects the hard work and dedication of our teams to provide safe, high-quality care. This is especially valuable considering the associated pressures on services. We will use this survey to continue to make improvements and ensure our service is receptive to the experiences of the people we care for and their families locally.
“We have developed an action plan to ensure we are addressing the areas where experiences could improve. This includes continuing to look at ways to facilitate partners being able to stay as much as they would like. We have also introduced a dedicated maternity triage telephone line that should strengthen opportunities to enable those accessing the service to have their questions answered promptly.”
The full survey report can be read on the CQC website: www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RA9/surveys/36
