Care Quality Commission Warns of Concerning Decline in Maternity Care Experiences
27/02/2023
At the start of the year, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its findings from the latest National Maternity Survey. The report covers opinions from those using maternity services, detailing the experiences of women and other pregnant people who had a live birth in early 2022.
Unfortunately, the 2022 maternity survey of more than 20,900 women and other pregnant people who gave birth in February 2022 shows that there has been a decline in positive experiences in the last five years. While positive results show an improvement in mental health support during pregnancy, notable key areas for improvement included:
- The proportion of women and other pregnant people being given the help they needed when they contacted a midwifery team during antenatal care, dropped from 74% in 2017 to 69% in 2022.
- Just over two-thirds (69%) of women and other pregnant people reported ‘definitely’ having confidence and trust in the staff delivering their antenatal care.
- The proportion of women and other pregnant people saying they were given appropriate advice and support when they contacted a midwife or hospital at the start of their labour, decreased from 87% in 2017 to 82% in 2022.
- There has also been a downward trend since 2017 for women and other pregnant people saying that if they raised a concern during labour and birth, they felt it was taken seriously, from 81% to 77% in 2022.
2023 Maternity Care Survey: If you want to take part in the 2023 survey, and if your baby is born in January, February or March 2023, you could do so here.
CQC Prosecutes NHS Trust For Failing to Provide Safe Care and Treatment to Mother and Baby
In a recent medical negligence case, the CQC brought criminal charges against Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, after it admitted failing in the care of a baby who died 23 minutes after her birth. The NHS Trust was fined £800,000, the largest handed out to an NHS trust over maternity care.
An earlier inquest found that baby Wynter died from hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, which is a loss of oxygen flow to the brain, and that this tragedy could have been prevented if the staff had delivered her earlier.
You can read the news article here.
Medical Negligence Solicitors – Birth Injury
If you or your baby have suffered an injury due to medical negligence during pregnancy or labour, we understand how devastating this can be. Our specialist medical negligence solicitors can offer sensitive advice and guidance on compensation claims concerning failures of care and treatment received from the NHS or Private Healthcare sector. We also work with families who have lost a loved one due to medical negligence. If you would like to speak to one of our team, please call us on 0800 731 7555 or make an online enquiry.