In recent years, the quality and safety of maternity services has been a key focus of national policy, with the aim of ensuring that all maternity service users have a positive and safe experience of pregnancy and childbirth. The annual Maternity survey helps monitor progress against these aims by listening to respondents about their experiences of care provided before giving birth, during labour and delivery, and in the period of 6 to 8 weeks following birth.
The 2024 Maternity survey involved 120 NHS trusts in England. All NHS trusts providing maternity services that had at least 300 live births were eligible to take part. Maternity service users who gave birth between 1 and 29 February 2024 were invited to participate. Fieldwork took place between May and August 2024, and responses received from 18,951 people, an adjusted response rate of 41%.
Results show less change overall in experiences of care than seen in recent maternity surveys. However, when considering evaluative questions with comparable data between 2024 and 2023, results show statistically significant decline in experiences for some areas of care during labour and birth, shortly after the birth, and during postnatal care. This includes communication during labour and birth, information provided during care in hospital after birth and involvement in postnatal care.
The survey has shown improvements in experience of mental health support during pregnancy and, for those who had an induced labour, the information provided on the risks associated with induction. Results remain high for antenatal care questions relating to communication and involvement in care.
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