Over 3,000 women have their say on Ireland’s maternity services in new national survey

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Almost 3,200 women have participated in the National Maternity Experience Survey — a new major survey of Ireland’s maternity services.

The survey asked new mothers about their recent experiences of Ireland’s maternity services — from antenatal care, through labour and birth, to postnatal care. The valuable feedback from new mothers will help improve maternity services and make them safer and better for new mothers and their babies.

HIQA’s Rachel Flynn said: “Our maternity services must be responsive to the needs of women. Thousands of babies are born in Ireland each year to women who will each have a unique story to tell about their care during pregnancy, childbirth and life with a newborn baby.

“It is only by listening and learning from the experiences of Irish mothers that we can bring about effective and sustainable changes to our maternity services, and put women and their babies at the centre of maternity care.

“I wish to thank all of the women who participated in the survey for sharing their experiences of maternity care. The high response rate of 50% indicates the strong desire of new mothers to play their part in improving Ireland’s maternity services for all.”

To find out more about the National Maternity Experience Survey, visit www.yourexperience.ie and follow us on social: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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For further information please contact:

Marty Whelan, Head of Communications & Stakeholder Engagement
085 8055202
mwhelan@hiqa.ie
 

Notes to the editor

  • Women aged 16 or over who gave birth in October 2019 in Ireland’s larger maternity hospitals/units, or in November 2019 in smaller maternity units or at home, were eligible to take part in the survey. Participants were required to have a postal address in the Republic of Ireland.
  • Almost 6,500 eligible new mums were contacted by post in February and March 2020 and received a unique code to access the online survey. The survey closed on Thursday, 30 April.  
  • The full results of the survey will be published in autumn 2020 on www.yourexperience.ie. You can sign up on the website to be notified when the results are available.
  • Ireland’s five maternity hospitals and 14 maternity units, as well as the National Home Birth Services, participated in the National Maternity Experience Survey. A full list is available here.
  • The survey contained 68 questions on topics such as antenatal care, care during labour and delivery, and postnatal care. A sample survey can be found here.
  • The National Maternity Experience Survey is part of the National Care Experience Programme, a joint initiative by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the HSE and the Department of Health. The Programme also includes the National Inpatient Experience Survey.