Health trust is criticised
Dec 3 2010 The Journal
ANORTH East health trust has been criticised for failing to encourage mothers-to-be to have a home birth.
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) survey of women’s experiences of maternity services published yesterday showed Gateshead Health was under-performing in giving women the option of having their baby at home.
The trust scored below average as only 54% of Gateshead patients were given the choice of a home birth while some trusts offered up to 96% of women this option. Planned home births are considered safe for healthy women with straight-forward pregnancies.
Last night, hospital bosses at Gateshead insisted the trust was not against home births.
Gillian MacArthur, director of nursing and midwifery, said: “The maternity department is fully supportive to offering women home birth and provides a service 24 hours a day, seven days a week with on call from the community midwives. We always assess every expectant mother and give the relevant professional advice if a home birth is felt to be a risk to a mother or baby.
“However, we are working proactively with Gateshead mums-to-be and community midwives to actively promote home birth as an option.”
The survey – the biggest of its kind involving more than 25,000 women in England – found most women were happy with the NHS maternity care they received in the North East.
Northumbria Healthcare, which covers Northumberland and North Tyneside, received the highest recorded score in the country for women having confidence and trust in the staff who provided care for them during labour and birth.
Ann Wright, director responsible for maternity services at Northumbria, said: “The results of this survey are great news for the mothers who use our service and our staff who care for them.
“It is further evidence that we provide high-quality maternity care. Just last month our hospitals were named the safest places in the North East to have a baby.”
South Tyneside Health NHS Foundation Trust polled extremely well with the numbers of women given information about reasons for pregnancy scans, including that of Downs Syndrome.
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust scored highly for patients not being left alone by midwives or doctors at a time when it worried them.
The survey by the CQC was designed to allow recent mothers to give their views on the care and information they received through pregnancy, birth and postnatally, both in hospital and at home. Nationally, 92% of women ranked their overall care as good, very good or excellent.
Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “Overall, the report is encouraging.
“It shows improvements and suggests that the investment in maternity services by the previous Government has begun to pay welcome dividends.
“However, some of the findings show that there is still much to do, in areas such as the provision of antenatal education, high-quality care in labour and ensuring appropriate advice and support in the postnatal period.
“It is of vital importance that progress in ensuring high-quality maternity services continues, despite the difficult economic climate and a real terms fall in NHS funding.”
