The Healthcare Commission recently launched a new service aimed at reviewing maternity services across the UK. But if you’re trying to decide which maternity service is the most appropriate for you to use, how do local services fare? We round-up the findings and compare the results for Kettering, Northampton, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Peterborough and Leicester.

Kettering

The review of the maternity service at Kettering General Hospital found that they weren’t performing as well as services in other organisations in a number of key areas. The Healthcare Commission emphasise that this, “does not necessarily mean that the organisation is providing care that is unsafe,” but that some improvements are required.

The overall score was 20.9%, in the least well performing category. They also scored:

* 2.75 out of 5 for, “Are practices in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?” This was below average.
* 2.88 out of 5 for, “Are women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity experience?” This was just below the average.
* 2.56 out of 5 for, “Is there adequate staffing and facilities (e.g. en-suite delivery rooms) and are these used effectively?” This was below average.

Kettering scored 11 out of 12 in the assessments relating to safety and cleanliness. The one assessment not met was infection control – “The organisation could not be sure that they had been meeting the standard of having systems in place to reduce the risk to patients, staff and visitors of acquiring infections, such as MRSA.”

See here for a detailed analysis of the results at Kettering.

Northampton

The maternity services at Northampton General Hospital fared marginally better than those at Kettering, but were still only deemed ‘fair.’ Their overall score was 21.6% and the experts said, “We found that this organisation’s maternity service did not perform as well as services in many other organisations in one or more key areas, and needs to improve.”

Where the three main maternity issues were concerned, they scored:

* 2.88 out of 5 for, “Are practices in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?” which was an average performance.
* 2.88 out of 5 for, “Are women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity experience?” which was an average performance.
* 2.89 out of 5 for, “Is there adequate staffing and facilities (e.g. en-suite delivery rooms) and are these used effectively?” which was also an average performance.

As far as safety and cleanliness is concerned, the hospital met all the assessments, scoring 12 out of 12. But beyond the basics, they failed to meet one assessment, concerning MRSA bacteraema, as the number of MRSA blood infections reported by the hospital was found to be not in line with the planned reductions for the years 2006 to 2007.

See here for a detailed analysis of the results at Northampton.

Bedford

The maternity services at Bedford Hospital NHS Trust were found to be overall better performing than some other maternity services, scoring 25.7%. But the assessors still thought the hospital could improve in some areas.

The hospital scored above average results on some of the key maternity areas, with results of:

* 3.25 out of 5 for, “Are practices in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?”
* 3.25 out of 5 for, “Are women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity experience?”
* 2.67 out of 5 for, “Is there adequate staffing and facilities (e.g. en-suite delivery rooms) and are these used effectively?” which was an average performance.

Like Northampton, Bedford met all the basic safety and cleanliness assessments, scoring 12 out of 12. But with issues beyond the basics they too failed to meet the MRSA assessment and the number of MRSA blood infections reported by the hospital was not found to be in line with the planned reductions for the years 2006 to 2007.

See here for a detailed analysis of the results at Bedford.

Milton Keynes

The Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s maternity services were found to be in the least well performing category. Their overall score was 20.9% and the expert assessors said they need to improve in a number of key areas. However, they emphasised that, “This does not necessarily mean the organisation is providing care that is unsafe.” 

The maternity service scored below average on some of the following areas:

* 2.75 out of 5 for, “Are practices in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?”
* 2.63 out of 5 for, “Are women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity experience?”
 * 2.22 out of 5 for, “Is there adequate staffing and facilities (e.g. en-suite delivery rooms) and are these used effectively?”

The hospital met 11 out of 12 assessments relating to safety and cleanliness – ideally, all 12 should have been attained. The one area where they failed was infection control. The experts said, “This organisation did not meet the standard of having systems in place to reduce the risk to patients, staff and visitors of acquiring infections, such as MRSA.”

Similarly, on the beyond the basics checks, the hospital didn’t meet the assessment relating to safety and cleanliness, particularly MRSA, and need to improve on this.

See here for a detailed analysis of the results at Milton Keynes.

Peterborough

Peterborough Maternity Unit is part of Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Compared to some of the other hospitals in the area, it gained better results and was found to be in the better performing category (31.8%).

On the three key maternity issues, they scored average and above average results:

* 3 out of 5 for, “Are practices in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?”
* 3.38 out of 5 for, “Are women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity experience?”
 * 3.33 out of 5 for, “Is there adequate staffing and facilities (e.g. en-suite delivery rooms) and are these used effectively?”

The hospital successfully met all the basic assessments relating to safety and cleanliness. Plus, it met the beyond the basic assessment too, showing that the number of MRSA blood infections reported by the organisation were in line with the planned reductions for 2006 to 2007.

See here for a detailed analysis of the results at Peterborough.

Leicester

The maternity services run by the University of Leicester NHS Trust were found to be fair performing (21.6%). The assessors said the service wasn’t performing as well as other organisations in several key areas and needs to improve.

Their results for the three key maternity service issues were as follows:

* 2.75 out of 5 for, “Are practices in place to help ensure a high quality and effective maternity service?”
* 3.13 out of 5 for, “Are women informed, counselled and supported to ensure they have a positive maternity experience?”
 * 2.89 out of 5 for, “Is there adequate staffing and facilities (e.g. en-suite delivery rooms) and are these used effectively?”

As far as the basic safety and cleanliness assessment go, they only scored 11 out of 12. The area they failed to meet concerning privacy and confidentiality and they were found to not meet the “standard of providing care in surroundings that supported the privacy and confidentiality of patients.”

They were also unable to meet the beyond the basics assessment for MRSA, with the number of MRSA blood infections reported by the hospital not in line with the planned UK reductions in 2006 and 2007.

See here for a detailed analysis of the results at Leicester.

National Comparison

When you’re only looking at the local results, it’s hard to see how they fit into the bigger national picture and are likely to be left wondering whether local services are better or worse than those offered in the rest of the country.

Although some hospitals didn’t fare quite so well and needed improvement, when you look at the national results, some of them are doing very well. Out of the entire review of maternity services in England:

• 26% were assessed as being best performing.
• 31% came out as better performing.
• 22% were found to be fair performing.
• 21% were least well performing.

 The cut-off points for the four categories are:

• 31.8% best performing.
• 25.7% better performing.
• 21.6% fair performing.
• 20.9% least well performing.

Choosing a Maternity Hospital

Having a baby is a major life event, so it’s no wonder families want to make sure the maternity service they use is efficient and has a good record. The ratings for the various local hospitals can be used to help guide you when making a decision, but it’s also always worth gaining recommendations where possible, from other mum’s who’ve recently given birth or from doctors and other health professionals.

It’s also useful to keep in mind that where hospitals have been told to make improvements to their standard of care or cleanliness, they should be making a conscious effort to do this. So although hospitals may have been given lower ratings in the past, it doesn’t necessarily mean this will be the case in the future.

The detailed reports available for each hospital will provide more food for thought and offer additional insight into the performance levels at each location.

When it comes to making a final decision about where you want to have your baby, it’s a case of weighing up all the pros and cons and deciding which hospital would offers the best overall for you and your baby.