Maternity and Neonatal matters roadshow findings
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During March 2024, Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen conducted an engagement roadshow to hear from women and families about their experiences of maternity and neonatal services. An online survey was set up and questions were formulated to understand what matters most to individuals within maternity and neonatal services, whether they felt they had a choice in the care they received and whether they received a personalised care plan. As well as the online survey, Healthwatch Blackburn with Darwen also attended a range of community groups and family hubs to collect feedback and experiences. Case studies were also collected from those who wanted to tell their story in more detail. They spoke to 82 women.
Overall, most women and partners were happy with the care they received throughout their pregnancies. There was fantastic praise for some midwives across the geography and the Trust should be proud of this feedback.
Women felt informed and involved in decisions made about their care. They were always given a choice of preferred place of birth. Personalised care plans were discussed with women and updated throughout pregnancy, although it became apparent women were not sure what a personalised care plan was until it was explained to them.
It was positive to see that 80% of women had been offered GP 6-8 week postnatal checks, unfortunately women felt the postnatal check was mainly a check for their baby and wasn’t offered support for themselves. The women who were offered support felt it wasn’t personalised to them and were asked questions which made them feel uncomfortable.
Healthwatch received mixed views around the Badger notes app, some women were happy with the app and found it useful and easy to use. However, others didn’t like the app as they found they weren’t notified when appointments were cancelled or amended leading to wasted journeys. There was also lack of information on there about type of appointment and some felt that notes were minimal.
It was evident that women were dissatisfied with postnatal care, with many feeling after giving birth that they were left on their own with minimal support