Local Survey Shows Maternity Services Have Improved At Ashford and St. Peter’s

Mayors, parents and staff gathered in the Parent Education Room in the Abbey Wing at St. Peter’s Hospital recently (Thursday 31st January) to witness the launch of a DVD showing mums and dads to be what it’s like in the Maternity Unit at St. Peter’s.    The DVD, produced by Baby TV who supply TV information systems on the ground floor of the Abbey Wing and in a number of other hospitals, takes new parents from their first contact with the maternity service as part of antenatal care through to leaving the Maternity Unit and their care by Community Midwives.

Said Eileen Nolan, Associate Director for Maternity Services, “We used to run Saturday morning tours of the department but found that up to 60 people were turning up – not just new parents but their parents and the siblings of the new child.   This was creating problems with the day to day running of the Maternity Unit and was unfair to both those using the facilities to have their babies and staff trying to help them.   Our new DVD allows new parents to take a virtual tour of the Maternity Unit in the comfort of their own home.”

Using real life expectant women and their partners and staff at St. Peter’s the DVD includes:

·          An expectant mum being monitored;

·          One of the two ‘Home from Home’ birthing rooms at St. Peter’s;

·          The role partners can play in assisting new mothers;

·          The water birthing pool;

·          A standard delivery room with the piped in gas and air which many women use as a means of pain relief;

·          The High Dependency Unit for mothers who have had to have a caesarean or other consultant intervention in the birth;

·          The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) which handles premature and sick babies from the Maternity Unit at St. Peter’s and for 90% of the births across Surrey;

·          Facilities for breastfeeding and bathing a new born babies; and

·          Facilities for parents to relax, watch TV, make themselves Tea and Coffee.

“The DVD also emphasises the importance we place on good hand hygiene and cleanliness,” continues Eileen Nolan.   “At the entrances to our facilities are gel dispensers and it is essential that everyone visiting our Maternity Unit, NICU or anywhere else in the hospital cleans their hands.   Our excellent Housekeeper is also interviewed and explains how we try to ensure that the facilities are kept clean and tidy.”

The 15 minute DVD will be available on request to parents as part of their parent education.   The DVD is also available in 10 sections on the Trust’s website.

As Associate Director of Maternity Services for the Trust, Eileen is keen to know what women and their partners think of the service provided.    Eileen outlined details of a survey published by the Trust which shows how maternity services have improved since the last national survey was carried out in February 2007 (published by the Healthcare Commission in November 2007).

The report, based on a survey of over 300 women in October 2007 with a 32 per cent response rate, shows that the care given during labour and delivery has shown significant improvement with 91 per cent rating care as good, very good or excellent compared to 80 percent in the February 2007 survey.   Positive ratings for care after birth have increased from 75 to 79 per cent.    Other encouraging results include:

·          Increasing confidence and trust in maternity service staff from 61% to 81%; and

·          A reduction from 56% to zero in the number of mothers saying that staff did not allow their husband, partner or companion to be with them for labour and/or birth.

The report also shows that for medical reasons 10 per cent of respondents had no choice over where to have their baby.   This is a reflection of the specialist nature of services provided by the Maternity Service at Ashford and St. Peter’s which is supported by the specialist Neonatal Intensive care Unit (NICU) at St. Peter’s Hospital.

Other areas of improvement include cleaning and food.   93 per cent (compared to 88% in February 2007) said that the hospital room or ward was fairly or very clean.   70 per cent (compared to 57%) said they had the right amount of food and 38% (compared to 27%) said they rated the food as good or very good.

Commenting on the survey Director of Nursing and Operations Michaela Morris said: “As a practising midwife I know that it is essential that we have a robust and up to date picture of what mothers and their partners think of our services.    This enables us to make improvements to the service and respond to what women want.    The latest survey by the Trust shows that we are making progress towards improving services in areas that we have control over.”