 News
3rd March 2008
Healthcare
watchdog launches maternity websiteA new service enables pregnant
women and their families to see details of the quality of care provided by their
local maternity services at a glance. The launch of the Healthcare Commission’s
maternity website follows the most comprehensive comparative review of maternity
services ever carried out. The review, which was published in January,
found significant variations in the quality of care across the country. As
part of the review, the Commission ranked 22 per cent of maternity services as
“fair performing” (32 NHS trusts) and 21 per cent as “least well performing” (31
trusts). Some 26 per cent of trusts were “best performing (38 trusts) and
32 per cent were “better performing” (47 trusts). The new website enables
users to get comprehensive information about their local maternity service, allowing
people to easily search for and access information on each trust. Parents
can also see how Trusts scored on three key questions: - Are practices
in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?
- Are
women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity
experience?
- Is there adequate staffing and facilities and are these used
effectively?
The website gives Trusts’ maternity services a score
out of five on 25 different areas, including how well each local trust provided
recommended antenatal screening, on appropriate use of caesarean sections and
on the quality of support they offered parents in caring for the baby after discharge.
People can search the website for their local trust by place name or postcode.
Sue Eardley, Maternity Services Project Lead at the Healthcare Commission,
said: “Around 600,000 women give birth in England every year, and choosing where
and how to give birth is an important decision. "We know that patients
want comparative information, and we are delighted to offer this new online guide
to expectant mothers and their partners. “We hope that parents will be
able to use this information to improve their experience both before, during and
after the baby is born. "For example, if a trust scored relatively
poorly in offering recommended screening, we hope women will use this information
to discuss with their midwives which tests are available at their trust. “It’s
important for expectant mothers and their partners to know that if a trust is
rated as “least well performing”, it does not mean that a service is unsafe. If
we believed any unit to be unsafe, we would take immediate action to ensure mothers
and babies were protected.” Visit the website at www.healthcarecommission.org.uk/maternity.cfm Where
to next? | 
