Ipsos: What does the NHS Maternity Survey 2022 tell us about maternity services since the pandemic? (11 January 2023)

Summary

The Maternity Survey 2022, run by Ipsos on behalf of the Care Quality Commission, looked at the experiences of women and other pregnant people who had a live birth in early 2022. In this article Anita Jefferson from Ipsos looks at the results of this and considers what they tell us about experiences of maternity services.

Content

Results from the Maternity Survey 2022 that this article highlights includes:

• Across the maternity pathway there has been a decline in the proportion of respondents who say they can always get help when they need it.
• Related to the availability of staff, the provision of information and advice has also dropped. While most (82%) respondents felt they were given appropriate advice and support at the start of their labour, this is a drop from 88% in 2019 and 84% in 2021.
• Almost a quarter of women and people who had given birth (23%) felt that when they raised a concern during labour and birth, it was not taken seriously.
• There are some areas of care that have seen an upward trend across the years. One of these is the experience of discharge from hospital, where around two-thirds of women and other people who had given birth report no delay to their discharge (62%, up from 56% in 2019).
• The results show an improved experience around support for mental health across the maternity pathway.