Maternity services at Sunderland Royal Hospital praised in patient survey

The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) 2017 national survey of ‘women’s experiences of maternity care’ has revealed City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust as the best performing trust across the whole of the North East and North Cumbria when it comes to the care and attention women received in hospital after the birth of their babies.

Scoring the highest of any provider in the region for ‘care in hospital after birth’, maternity services at the Royal also scored amongst the very best in the entire NHS in two other key areas which cover women feeling that staff responded quickly if attention was needed after the birth of their babies and women feeling that they received the information and explanations they needed after the birth of their babies

Some of Sunderland Royal Hospital’s other highest scoring categories included partners being involved as much as they wanted, being treated with respect and dignity during labour and birth and thinking the hospital room or ward was clean.

The national survey involved a total of 130 NHS trusts and the survey was sent to all women who gave birth during February 2017 to find out about their experiences of care and treatment in maternity units across the country.

A total of 113 patients from City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust responded to the survey.

Sheila Ford, head of midwifery at Sunderland Royal Hospital, said: “We are very proud of the feedback we receive about our maternity service here at Sunderland Royal and this is testament to the hard work and dedication of our amazing teams who provide such high quality, compassionate care for women and their families on a daily basis.

“The birth of a baby is such an important time and it is always reassuring to hear such positive feedback about the care women have received in hospital with us.

“There are, of course, areas where we must improve further and we will be looking at the results in detail, alongside other sources of feedback to the trust, to make we continue to listen, learn and develop the very best maternity services for local women in our area.”

Melanie Johnson, director of nursing and patient experience at City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Surveys such as this, which collect information by asking people directly about their experiences, are very important to us.

“They help us to understand what matters most to patients about their care and treatment so that we can improve our services even further and make sure that we provide high quality and safe care to all mums and babies who choose to have their care with us.”