Women receiving maternity care at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS (UHP) Trust have reported improvements in the service.

The health care watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC) maternity survey looked at the experiences of pregnant women and new mothers who used NHS maternity services last February.

Women reported feeling well-supported during labour, with few being sent home when worried about themselves or their baby

Partners or support people were able to be involved in labour and birth as much as they wished, indicating a strong family-centred care.

Staff communicated clearly and helped build trust and a sense of safety.

Involvement in antenatal decision-making improved significantly, with more women feeling included in choices about their care. Confidence and trust in antenatal staff also saw a notable rise.

Partner involvement during the postnatal hospital stay showed the largest improvement, with many more partners able to stay as long as needed. Personalised advice from midwives improved.

There were however common discharge delays and some women felt the frequency of contact with midwives did not meet their needs, while staff did not always appear fully aware of women's medical histories.

Catherine Wilkins, Interim Director of Midwifery at UHP said improvements included allowing birthing partners to stay with their birthing person 24/7 to enable families to have the support and involvement with each other, as much as they need.

“We have also improved the formats in which information is provided, this supports personalised care planning and enables more robust and informed decision making.”

When we work in partnership and listen to women and their families we can deliver tangible improvements for them.”

Recent mum Millie said: “I just wanted to say a massive thank you for making my planned C-section the most incredible and smooth experience. Every person will forever be special to me for making that day the best one of my life and I can't thank them enough. You went above and beyond."

New mother Zoe said: "Thank you to everyone who helped us through induction, labour, unplanned C-section and recovery. Bringing our miracle little boy Aiden into the world. You are all amazing. You made us feel so supported and our treatments couldn't have gone better. You made it a wonderful experience."

Hayley said: "A huge thank you and appreciation for the amazing maternity team at Derriford. For all our journey, everyone was kind, caring and professional. As a nurse, I know the struggles we all face and I appreciated every aspect of the care I received. I felt listened to and safe at all times.

“We would love to particularly mention midwives Megan, Sophie and student midwife Katie. You were all brilliant and made my whole birthing experience the best it could be. Megan and Katie even stayed on beyond their shift time to support us. Unfortunately, it ended in surgery, but our beautiful boy Oscar was born safely and we will be forever grateful to the whole team who brought him into the world.”