Policy briefing: what people told us about maternity services
The arrival of a new baby is a significant life event for any family. It can be joyful and fulfilling but also challenging. Support from maternity services can have a significant impact on parents’ experiences throughout pregnancy and post-birth.
However, feedback shared with us between April 2021 and March 2022 indicates that peoples experiences of maternity services may be worsening. In 2019/20, 31% of people who shared their feedback with us reported positive experiences of maternity services, compared to only 21% in 2021/22.
This briefing outlines the key issues people told us about maternity services between April 2021 and March 2022.
Key findings from our research:
- Continuity of care throughout pregnancy, during childbirth and in the postnatal period are important. However, people told us that they are currently not experiencing continuity of care consistently enough from maternity care providers.
- People felt services were overstretched, particularly care in postnatal wards and care providers in the community in the months following childbirth.
- When things go wrong, they can go very badly wrong, having a lasting impact on families, particularly those who are not properly supported by maternity services.
- People told us they need more support for mental health throughout the perinatal period.
- We heard that fathers and partners are often overlooked, which has been exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19 restrictions during this period.
- Specific groups told us about poor experiences of care, including experiences of racism and discrimination in maternity care.
- People from LGBTQ+ groups told us about low levels of inclusivity of maternity services and lack of access to gender-inclusive resources.
Methodology
In our review of maternity services we have drawn on two main sources of evidence. This evidence is a sample of the data that local Healthwatch hear from people about maternity services.
- Local Healthwatch feedback and signposting data. This data comes from local Healthwatch hearing individual stories and signposting people to services (between April 2021 and March 2022, we heard from 441 people via our CRM).
- Local Healthwatch reports. These reports include work completed by ten local Healthwatch on 2,004 people’s experiences of maternity services between October 2021 and March 2022.
Next steps
We want to build on our previous maternity care work and the issues that have emerged in our latest evidence, particularly related to maternal mental health. We will do this through:
- a national survey asking people to share their experience of maternal mental health care;
- qualitative interviews, run in partnership with four local Healthwatch;
- Freedom of Information requests issued to NHS services in England to understand whether maternity services meet national guidelines and recommendations;
- and partnering with parenting organisations.
If you need this report in a different format, please email enquiries@healthwatch.co.uk or call 03000 68 3000.
What people told us about maternity services
