Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Mums are having their say on maternity care at ABM and making changes to the way services are run.
Women and families visiting hospital for maternity care are now being asked to help develop a new a picture of user experience and satisfaction to improve the service.
The women and child health staff at ABM have been keen to get as many views of their work as they can from those whose opinion matters most.
Numerous ways of getting opinions are now in regular use, including:
· Patient satisfaction surveys to look at a number of key aspects of care.
· Senior members of staff visiting clinical areas in a structured way to look at care from a patient experience perspective. A key element of these visits is to listen to gather the views and stories of patients and visitors.
· Using the data and stories from these visits to inform the development of action plans to take issues forward.
· Feeding back to patients and visitors on maternity services are listening to them.
As a result of this feedback, labour rooms are being refurbished as part of a long-term plan to improve the environment of care, and new public groups are being formed to support mums and families.
Cathy Dowling, Head of Nursing and Midwifery for Women and Child Health, said:
“A woman's experience of pregnancy and childbirth can have a powerful effect on the health and well-being of themselves and their families.
“We have a responsibility to plan and provide our maternity services in a way that is able to meet the individual choices and clinical needs of women.
“This is no easy task, but working in partnership with women who are planning to use or have used our maternity services is critical in helping us to get it right.”