National Maternity Ratings Published
Published on: 22/11/2016
For the first time the Department of Health has rated all maternity services in the UK for quality, highlighting various areas that need improvement.
Clinical Care Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have been rated for stillbirth and neonatal mortality ratings, women smoking at the time of delivery, women’s choice and and women’s experience of their services. Overall, 74% of CCGs were deemed to require improvement, with the others considered to be performing well. NHS West Kent achieved the best possible ranking.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) welcomed the opportunity to recognise where improvements needed to be made, and urged the individual CCGs to urgently address them.
Cathy Warwick, RCM Chief Executive commented that
“This is a positive step and one that could help women to be informed about the quality of services where they live, and empower them to make more informed decisions about their care. Hopefully these ratings will be used to help CCGs learn from the best and to improve quality where that is shown to be needed…I am concerned about the number of services requiring improvement, and about the variations in care and outcomes for women and their babies, shown in areas such as stillbirth rates. Poorly performing services need to be addressing this variation very urgently”
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology (RCOG) expressed concerns about the increasing demand on services, combined with a huge cost savings that are limiting the ability to improve services. Professor Lesley Regan, President of RCOG, comments:
“The UK is a safe place to give birth, however, the pressures on maternity services are growing and stretched and understaffed services affect the quality of care provided to both mothers and babies. Doctors and midwives must train and work in multi-professional teams to ensure that women receive a high quality and safe service. The new maternity ratings will help pinpoint areas for improvement to ensure women receive the best care possible. This is an opportunity to learn from areas that have been rated as performing well, highlighting examples of good practice and work on everyone achieving a higher rating.”
NHS England’s Clinical Director for Maternity, Matthew Jolly, stated that it’s “never been safer to give birth in this country” and commented that the vast majority of families report a good experience, but more can be done to improve the services.