Maternity services at Eastbourne District General Hospital – why women and their families value this service

Healthwatch East Sussex is pleased to announce the publication of our final report looking at local maternity services.

It completes a series of visits Healthwatch has undertaken in cooperation with East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust that have included;

• an overarching review of Maternity Services across both Hastings and Eastbourne sites in April 2016
• a snapshot of the Consultant-led services at The Conquest Hospital in Hastings in October 2018; and
• finally this report looking at the Midwifery-led unit in Eastbourne.

Speaking to women and families at the unit we found:

Largely very positive comments about the high-quality care women receive and clearly value from 24 women completing the survey, citing

• ‘continuity of care from a named midwife’
• ‘calm, relaxing and peaceful’ environment; and
• ‘person-centred care’ that made their experience such a positive one. 

Elsewhere in the unit, The Women’s Health clinic also received positive comments ‘everyone is very friendly, and two women went on to say that in their view they had received a Gold Standard service. Women also said they are satisfied with the service even when the birth hadn’t gone as planned. Even after transfer to the Conquest for birth, women want to come back to for care because the unit offers. 

The report revisits recommendations made in previous reviews and builds upon the conclusion’s women had already shared with Healthwatch on what a ‘Gold Standard’ service looks like. 

Meeting the ‘Gold Standard service…women and their partners thought the gold standard was being met by the way they described the staff, the facilities, the cleanliness of the unit and the person-centred care they received.

John Routledge, Director added

‘Healthwatch East Sussex is pleased to produce a report that showcases a service patients and their families consider to be a ‘Gold Standard’. Not only is this rewarding and reassuring for patients, parents and potential parents, is highly motivating for the staff too. The report also acknowledges there is always more to do, especially in providing a Gold Standard service as it would be easy to settle for what you have achieved and not be constantly striving for excellence. We look forward to working with the Trust on how actions from the report can be taken forward as part of our commitment to improve local services’

You can read the full report by clicking here