Using maternity services during Covid-19

(March 2020 - August 2020)

Thank you to everyone who completed the maternity survey in 2020.

Your feedback, combined with local and national intelligence and guidance has helped us to meet the needs of the families within our care. Here’s a snapshot of some of the changes implemented at both The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust as a result of what you told us.

You said…	We did…
“We are concerned about restrictions in particularly for partners attending antenatal appointments, scans, during labour and postnatal visiting.”	Where possible, and in line with keeping everyone safe, and adhering to Government guidance, we continue to make changes to facilitate birth partners and supports to be present throughout the whole maternity journey. This includes ultrasound scans and outpatient appointments. We are also increasing visiting opportunities where possible. This remains under review whilst the pandemic continues.
“People from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups said they had a less satisfactory experience of maternity care”.	Enabled key resources to be easily translated into various languages. Set up dedicated midwives for vulnerabilities which includes Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups. We are also ensuring that face to face maternity bookings are carried out.
“We’d like maternity websites to be the main source of maternity related information and have clear and transparent information about what to expect when coming to hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.”	We review and update maternity web pages with key information in regards to the pandemic which is kept up to date.
“We sometimes felt a bit lost in the system, and don’t always know what to do or what to expect.”	We regularly update our website and Facebook pages to help people understand what to expect. For example: • Attending appointments and scans, triage, labour and visiting guidance during the pandemic. • We also made additional contact (between appointments) which we aim to continue.
“We’d like continuity of care from the same midwife.”	• There are a number of ‘Continuity of carer’ midwifery teams where women have a named midwife within a small team of midwives who provide care during pregnancy, throughout labour and postnatally. • There are plans to increase the number of women receiving care from our continuity of carer teams in 2021.
“We want to see evidence of COVID-19 safety measures such as social distancing, cleaning and mask wearing when attending hospital.”	• We have strict infection control and PPE procedures in place. This includes a higher level of cleaning, and as well as staff wearing enhanced PPE to keep everyone safe. This can be seen when visiting the hospital sites. • We have produced posters/banners in each area which include the expectations for visitors in regards to PPE, social distancing and hand hygiene. • These messages are also communicated on our websites and Facebook pages.
“We’d like more face-to-face appointments with midwives and doctors.”	Where contact in person is not clinically necessary we aim to offer the choice of a video consultation where possible in order to provide you with key information.
“We’d like you to facilitate antenatal classes where we can speak with a midwife and meet other expectant families.”	We are exploring different ways of providing antenatal information. We will keep you updated through our Facebook pages and websites - so please look out for the details. Your midwife will also be able to tell you about these when they come available.