Neonatal services survey

The charities “Picker Institute Europe” and “Bliss” have published the results of their neonatal survey 2014. Responses were received from 6000 parents from 88 hospital neonatal units from 72 NHS trusts in England and Jersey.  The results have been largely positive, although concerns were raised about parent’s opportunities to discuss care with Drs.

Key highlights from the results include:

Less than half (45%) of respondents were able to speak to a doctor as much as they wanted to.

87% of respondents stated that they “always or nearly always” had confidence and trust in the staff caring for their baby.

30% of parents responding that they did not receive any information, specifically about parental support groups such as Bliss.

79% of parents stated that they were both “always” able to talk to staff if they had worries and concerns, and “always” received information about their baby’s treatment in a way they could understand.

92% of parents felt that they could visit their baby as much as they wanted.

Bliss Chief Executive, Caroline Davey said: “Involving parents in service improvement is vital for neonatal units, and this survey provides a valuable opportunity for parents to feed back on their experiences while their baby was in hospital. While there is much to celebrate, the survey also highlights areas where further improvement is needed, including the need to provide better information to parents and to involve parents fully in their baby’s care.

Read the Picker Institute’s report here