New mothers praise maternity services in Shrewsbury
Women who give birth at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital are pleased with their overall experience, a survey has revealed.
Maternity services across Shropshire were praised by mothers who took part in the survey run by the Care Quality Commission.
The county scored 9.1 out of 10 for questions on labour and birth, nine out of 10 for the staff, and 8.3 out of 10 for the care in hospitals after birth in the 2013 Maternity Survey.
In all areas, hospitals in the county are performing better than the national average.
It comes a week after health chiefs published their 207-page review of the county's maternity services in the wake of the death of a baby in the county four years ago.
Cathy Smith, head of midwifery and women and children's care group director at the trust, said: "This survey highlights a number of positive findings for our maternity services and I'm delighted that overall the experiences of women who took part was very good.
"Feedback from the women who use our services is extremely useful and helps to ensure we are providing the best care possible before, during and after labour for the women of Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales. We will also continue to review our services and work to improve the experiences of women in response to the survey.
"We appreciate that it can be difficult to find the time to provide feedback and I would like to thank everyone who took part in the survey."
The review of the maternity services, which cost £60,000, also painted a positive picture of the services in the county.
The remit was to examine midwife-led units (MLUs) at Ludlow, as well as in Shrewsbury, Telford, Bridgnorth and Oswestry, along with the consultant-led unit at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Between April 2012 and March this year hundreds of new mothers and hospital staff were spoken to using questionnaires, online and in the old-fashioned paper format, and public forums all over the county.
And the review reflects the Maternity Survey, stating that nine out of 10 women who were spoken to said they were happy with their overall treatment during deliveries.
