BRADFORD Royal Infirmary (BRI) has been praised for its maternity services in a national survey.
The dedication and hard work of the hospital’s maternity unit, part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been recognised in the findings of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Maternity Services Survey 2019.
Not only has the unit achieved a whole clutch of high scores for many of the responses but it has also shown that in some areas, the unit is ahead of the game nationally when it comes to two areas of maternity care: mums having the opportunity to raise concerns and mums having the opportunity to ask questions about their labour and birth.
During the summer of 2019, a questionnaire was sent to all women who gave birth in February of that year, asking them to answer questions about different aspects of their maternity care and treatment. The unit received responses from 81 patients.
Based on their responses, the CQC then gave each NHS trust a score out of 10 for each question (the higher the score the better).
Each trust also received a rating of ‘About the same’, ‘Better’ or ‘Worse’ for each of the answers:
- Better: the trust is better for that particular question compared to most other trusts that took part in the survey
- About the same: the trust is performing about the same for that particular question as most other trusts that took part in the survey
- Worse: the trust did not perform as well for that particular question compared to most other trusts that took part in the survey
Patients were asked a total of 19 questions, which were divided into three categories – Labour and Birth, Staff during Labour, and Birth and Care in Hospital after the Birth. BRI scored 8 out of 10 and above in all three categories with the highest score being 8.9 out of 10.
The highest scores for the responses to individual questions included 9.8/10 for partners being encouraged to be involved as much as they wanted, 9.7/10 for clear communication during labour and birth and 9.5/10 for being treated with respect and dignity during labour and birth.
Deputy Chief Nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Sally Scales, said: “I’m delighted that the hard work and dedication of our maternity teams has shone through and been recognised in these fantastic results.
“We have one of the busiest maternity units in the country (in 2019, a grand total of 5,463 babies were delivered at BRI) and our staff go above and beyond to support our mums and partners when they are bringing new life into this world.
“We always welcome feedback from patients as it’s vital for making improvements in the quality of care we offer in Bradford and the survey is an excellent way for us to look in-depth at the experience of mums and their families who choose our Maternity Unit for their care.”
Full results:
- Labour and Birth 8.8/10 (Compared with other trusts about the same)
- Staff during Labour and Birth 8.9/10 (Compared with other trusts about the same)
- Care in Hospital after the Birth 8/10 (Compared with other trusts about the same)
Labour and Birth
Advice at the start of labour
Receiving appropriate advice and support 9.3/10 (About the same)
Atmosphere
Staff helped to create a more comfortable atmosphere during labour 7.9/10 (About the same)
Skin to skin contact
Having skin to skin contact with the baby shortly after birth 8.4/10 (About the same)
Partner involvement
Partners being involved as much as they wanted 9.8/10 (About the same)
Staff during labour and birth
Staff introduction
Staff introducing themselves before examination or treatment 9.2/10 (About the same)
Being left alone
Not being left alone by midwives or doctors at a time when it worried them 7.2/10 (About the same)
Raising concerns
Concerns being taken seriously once raised 9.3/10 (Better)
Attention during labour
If attention was needed during labour and birth, a member of staff was there to help 9.1/10 (About the same)
Clear communication
Being spoken to during labour and birth, in a way they could understand 9.7/10 (About the same)
Involvement in decisions
Being involved enough in decisions about their care during labour and birth 8.8/10 (About the same)
Respect and dignity
Being treated with respect and dignity during labour and birth 9.5/10 (About the same)
Confidence and trust
Having confidence and trust in the staff caring for them during labour and birth 9.2/10 (About the same)
Opportunity to ask questions
Having the opportunity to ask questions about their labour and birth 8/10 (Better)
Care in hospital after the birth
Delay in discharge
Discharge from hospital being delayed 5.2/10 (About the same)
Attention after birth
If attention was needed after the birth, a member of staff was there to help 8.4/10 (About the same)
Information and explanations
Receiving the information and explanations they needed after the birth 8.5/10 (About the same)
Kind and understanding care
Being treated with kindness and understanding by staff after the birth 8.9/10 (About the same)
Partner length of stay
Partner who was involved in care being able to stay with them as much as they wanted 8.7/10 (About the same)
Cleanliness of room or ward
Thinking the hospital room or ward was clean 8.2/10 (About the same)
ENDS
For further media information, please contact communications@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274 382265
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 and provide specialist services for 1.1 million people.
Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Eccleshill.
In early 2017, a new £28 million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals over a five-year period. It provides world-class facilities for elderly care, children’s services, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit with increased single-room provision and a retail concourse.
The new wing is a continuation of our work to improve patient experience after our new £2 million neonatal unit officially opened in January 2015. Our maternity services were recently shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Midwifery Service of the Year Award, recognising excellence and innovation in the provision of maternity care.
In 2017, we also completed a £2m refurbishment of our Emergency Department (ED) as part of an ambitious vision to create a more efficient acute medicine service for the people of Bradford. It has been designed to provide a slicker and more efficient service, with faster senior clinical involvement at an early stage in the patient pathway.
As a teaching hospital, we are at the forefront of education and development in healthcare, and have an excellent reputation for research performance. We are one of the leading centres in conducting applied research in the country, particularly in quality and safety, elderly care and rehabilitation.
The Trust is home to the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) where researchers have led the development, validation and implementation of the award-winning Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as their diminishing independence and capability. This is now being used by 98 per cent of all GPs across the country.
Our award-winning Ophthalmology department is home to numerous worldwide clinical trials taking the lead in eye care research and we are one of only three sites in the United Kingdom to be enlisted in the Perioperative Enhanced Recovery Hip Fracture Care of Patients with Dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will investigate how the NHS can introduce better standards of care to improve outcomes for people with dementia.
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The Trust has its own Bradford Hospitals Charity: https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/