Our work on maternity services

Survey of women who had recently given birth

In 2007 we worked with the NHS to carry out a national survey of all women who had given birth in February 2007, to find out about their experiences of maternity care. More than 26,000 women gave us our views, making this the largest survey of its type in England. It built on a national survey carried out by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit in 2006, which showed that 80% of women had more than one midwife taking care of them in labour and that a significant number felt left alone for varying periods of time.

Our survey in 2007 showed that 89% of women thought their care during pregnancy was either "excellent", "very good" or "good", and 90% thought so about their care during labour and birth. However, only 80% thought so about their care after giving birth. Postnatal care was one of the areas of concern, as were the way staff communicated with mothers, food, and cleanliness. But the survey also showed that the quality of care women experienced in these areas varied widely between different trusts and different parts of the country.

Find out more about the results of our 2007 survey of women's views of maternity care

Checking the quality of maternity services nationwide

In 2007 we carried out a detailed review of the quality of maternity services throughout England. We drew on information from NHS trusts that provide maternity services, including a survey of their staff, and on our 2007 survey of more than 26,000 mothers (see above). We published our report, "Towards better births", in July 2008. It describes how we carried out the review and gives a detailed analysis of our findings, along with recommendations to promote improvements. To download the report, click on the link below.

"Towards better births" - A review of maternity services in England

Sharing good practice among healthcare professionals

We marked the publication of the report with a national conference for people who design and plan maternity services in England. The event focused on celebrating innovation and sharing examples of good joint working, with 20 speakers representing a wide range of organisations.

Investigating serious failures in maternity services

The Care Quality Commission conducts an in-depth investigation if a healthcare service is causing concern or appears to present a risk to the safety of patients.

We carried out an investigation at Northwick Park Hospital, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, following 10 maternal deaths at, or after, delivery, between April 2002 and April 2005. We published two reports on our investigation in July 2005 and August 2006. Find out more about our investigation

Sometimes when we have serious concerns about a trust's services, we intervene rather than carry out a full investigation. In 2007 we carried out an intervention into the maternity services at Newham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Click here to find out more about the intervention.

Working with local stakeholders

Our regional operations teams work throughout England, focusing on building relationships with local NHS trusts, providers of independent healthcare, groups that represent patients, and the public. They liaise with healthcare professionals and others involved in maternity care to identify and promote new examples of good practice. Our operations staff watch out for any concerns that may need to be looked into, and have close links with our team that deals with patients’ unresolved complaints about the NHS.

Patients’ complaints about maternity services.

The Care Quality Commission is responsible for independently reviewing patients’ complaints about NHS healthcare that have not been settled by the trust involved.

Unsettled complaints about NHS maternity services make up a relatively small proportion of the complaints that patients ask us to review. However, we send a larger proportion of them back to the trusts for more work than we do for any other area of care. This is usually because the explanations that the trust has given to the mother or her representative have not been adequate and the trust needs to explore the situation further. We monitor trends and similarities in complaints that involve clinical issues – both within a trust and across different trusts – and take action so that improvements are made where necessary.

Maternity services and the annual health check

As part of our annual health check of the NHS, all trusts in England are required to assess their services against the Government’s core standards and then declare publicly the extent to which they are meeting the standards. We check these self-assessments against a wide range of surveillance information, including information about NHS maternity services.

For healthcare professionals: we welcome statistically valid data that will enhance our knowledge of the care provided by maternity units in England. If your healthcare organisation holds data that you think would be useful, we would be grateful if you would share it with us. For more details, please email our maternity services team at: maternity@cqc.org.uk