Healthwatch Bucks launches Maternity Care Survey

Healthwatch Bucks has launched a Maternity Care Survey to help make maternity care better.

Healthwatch Bucks has joined together with other local Healthwatch (Oxfordshire, Reading, West Berkshire, and Wokingham Borough) to get feedback from monthers on what was important to them while they were pregnant. The NHS will use their views to make maternity care better.

The NHS have asked Healthwatch Bucks to run the survey, following the National Maternity Review – Better Births. The review said that every woman should be able to make more decisions about her care.

Soon, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire will be improving the way women record and communicate their choices about maternity care – it will be called a Personalised Care Plan. It will cover the check-ups during pregnancy to the birth of the baby and the first six weeks after the baby is born.

Healthwatch Bucks need mothers to tell them what they would want this plan to look like. This will help other women plan their care in the future. They will collect the results from the survey and give them to the NHS. Your local NHS will use these results to help support women in planning their care.

Over the years, Healthwatch Bucks have received many pieces of feedback on maternity services from local women. While there is good feedback about the staff and support, this is not always the case.

Thalia Jervis, Chief Executive, Healthwatch Bucks says, ‘We have heard a lot of women say that they haven’t been able to access information or book appointments when they’re needed most. This can be very stressful, especially for new mothers.

I’m so glad we’re running this survey so that voices like that will be heard and acted upon. We are really pleased to be working on this project to help the NHS support women during maternity.‘

Rebecca Furlong, Network Manager Children and Maternity, Thames Valley Strategic Clinical Network, said: ‘It is really important to the Local Maternity system across BOB Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) that we build on the learning from the National Maternity review.

We are therefore asking women how we can make their care more individualised to meet their needs. We are developing personalised care plans and want to hear from women about what’s important to them about their pregnancy, birth of their baby and then after giving birth.‘

If you have been pregnant in the last three years you can complete the survey by visiting the www.healthwatchbucks.co.uk website and clicking on the  ‘Take part in the survey‘ link. If you are part of a group that would like some hard copies of the survey please email [email protected] or call 0845 260 6216.